Waves of Wisdom
by TrackRunner73
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are sworn enemies due to their rivaling gangs, but as they get to know one another being with their gangs only gets more and more difficult. Especially when they start to fall for each other.
1. Chapter 1

Luke slammed the apartment door as he came in with a bag of groceries, "Remind me why I was sent to get the groceries when I'm the most noticeable of us all." He gestured angrily toward his scar that ran down the right side of his face.

"Hmm, let me think about that," Thalia began sarcastically, "Maybe because A) It was your turn. B) Both mine and Annabeth's faces are just as well known around here and C) The last time we sent anyone else out alone, they got their butts' kicked. So stop whining."

He rolled his eyes, "I wasn't actually looking for an answer." Those two just love to argue with each other, and the fact that the three of us all live together doesn't help. We all ran away from our homes when we were younger and joined our gang, Aegis, where we met up. Even though there are more people in the gang, we are the closest with one another and also the leaders.

"Will a day ever pass where you two don't argue?" I asked both of them. They just grinned and shook their heads. Looking into the bag of groceries, I noticed that Luke had forgotten eggs. To most people, that may not be a huge deal, but that's one of the few breakfast foods that any of us know how to make. I turned to him, "You forgot to get eggs."

He threw his hands in the air with exasperation, "Everybody's a critic."

"Fine," I told him, "I'll go get them." I turned to Thalia, "Please, get him to stop complaining so much."

She laughed as I headed for the door. Luke must've taken a minute to register what I said, because as the door clicked shut behind me I heard a muffled, "Hey! I'm not complaining!"

The bitter air nipped at my skin when I stepped outside. Few people bustled about around me, but I just continued forward. There was a market up the street where I could quickly get eggs and leave before our enemy gang could show up. Sadly, that plan went to shambles with a familiar Mercury Mariner parked up the street. Immediately, I knew that that car belonged to our rival gang: Riptide. In an attempt to avoid a run-in with them, I turned into one of the alleyways on the street. Thankfully, I knew a back way to the market. I had gotten into the store, grabbed some eggs, and left with no problem. However on my trip through one of the alleys, I found a few Riptide members on the other end. Knowing I shouldn't try and take on all of them, I backed out of the alley. It was too late, they had already spotted me. In a split second they had surrounded me.

Most of them I recognized, except for two people. One was a boy around my age with dark hair and bright green eyes. He was wearing a black jacket that covers the tattoo that all gang members get on their arms. Yes, I have one as well, but it's different from theirs. We use Greek symbols that spell out our gang names as our tattoos.

Anyway, clinging to him was a red-haired girl who probably wasn't an actual member of the gang. Sometimes, guys just lug their girlfriends around with the gang so they can stand around and watch them fight. Along with those two were a _huge_ guy, a gothic boy, a more timid guy, and another one of their girlfriends with elfish features. Believe me, there were a lot more of them, they just weren't in the alleyway that night. Don't ask me what their names are, I don't have a clue.

"Well, what do we have here?" the red-head asked snidely. If she wasn't going to fight, then she should just shut up and stand in the back like a good little mime.

The gothic boy grabbed my arm to check my tattoo, but I kicked him away. He growled, "Just by the attitude I can tell she's from Aegis."

"Would you like a prize for figuring that out?" I spat, "Now, if you don't mind-" I pushed past them, but the big guy's rough hand pulled me back.

The gothic boy had gotten fed up with me and lunged, but I sidestepped and knocked him over. This made all of his buddies rise to his defense. The clumsy guy came forward, and backed away instantly when I drew my knife. Everyone stepped back a bit because I'm known for being deadly with a knife. The only one who held his ground was the boy with the sea green eyes. At first, he didn't even attack; he simply stood there analyzing me. Once he finally attacked, he went right for my wrist to try and disarm me. What a predictable move. Before he reached my arm, I jumped up and slammed my knee into his jaw. Cradling his face, he fell to the ground and the red-head came to his aid.

"Percy!" she squealed, "Are you okay? Let me see. Did that bitch hurt you?" She really shouldn't call me a bitch when I'm a foot away. Lucky for her, I usually don't beat up non-gang members. See, I have some standards.

"I'm okay, Rachel. Getting hurt is part of the fight," he told her. Something was different in his voice though. It wasn't angry or bold or a tough guy act. He sounded truthful and comforting. Guys like that usually get the crap beaten out of them, but I could tell that he could take care of himself. It was completely different from what I've heard from any other gang member. Something was special about him, I could tell. Unfortunately, his voice had distracted me from the fight and the big guy had pinned my arms behind my back. Rookie mistake by me.

"What should we do with her?" the timid guy questioned Percy as he put his arm around the elfish girl. I guess I found out whose girlfriend she is.

Percy's eyes met mine as he thought of what to do with me. His burned with passion while mine burned with fury. Horrible things have been done to captured gang members. Male gang members get off easy, they usually only get tortured. Girls are usually made their sex toys and get tortured.

"Annabeth, get out of there!" I heard a familiar voice shout from above. It was Travis Stoll and next to him was his brother Connor. They're Luke's half-brothers and part of our gang. And when they say to get away, you run like hell. Kicking the big guy in the groin, he fell to the ground and I bolted away from there. Seconds later, I heard an explosion of some sort and I stopped in my tracks. Car doors slammed and tires screeched away, so I figured it was safe for me to turn back.

"Dude, that was awesome!" I heard Connor shout and they high-fived each other. I hadn't even realized that I was right next to their apartment. They were up on their fire escape, looking down on the mini-bomb they set off. At least there was little damage so we wouldn't get in much trouble.

I smiled at their craziness, "Thanks guys!" I called up to them.

"No problem!" they shouted down in unison.

Running back to the apartment, I was lucky enough to not run into anyone else. I lost the eggs along the way, but better to lose them than my life. Walking through the door, I found Luke and Thalia passed out on the couches. I shook both of them awake, "Wake up, I have reports on Riptide." That caused both of them to shoot up out of their places, "They have a new member and new baggage."

Thalia gagged at the baggage part, "Great, I hate when they drag their girlfriends around if they won't fight."

I was happy, because now I got to vent, "She's an obnoxious one too. She acts like she's a gang member, but then she nearly cried when I crushed her boyfriend's jaw."

"You mean you ran into them?" Luke was now officially worried. He always gets worried when we run into them alone. Another gang almost made him turn once, and he still hasn't forgiven himself for nearly betraying us. Plus, there was the night Thalia was unbelievably close to death. That was probably one of the worst nights of my life. Luke refuses to even mention it because of how worried he had been for her and he had felt powerless.

I nodded, "They didn't get a chance to hurt me though, and the Stoll brothers saved me."

He sighed with relief, "At least you're alright."

"What about their new gang member?" Thalia returned to our previous conversation.

I had absolutely no clue how to answer that, "He's an…_interesting_ case."

She gave me a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. He's seems different than the rest of them. I wouldn't worry about it. He's probably the same. After all, I was near them for five minutes at most."

Heading to my room, I wasn't sure if I added the last part to reassure myself or them.

It's nice to be done with the first chapter of my first story, but I know I need a lot of work. Constructive criticism is much appreciated. I hope you liked it though.


	2. Chapter 2

I know I forgot this last chapter, so I'll say it twice: I do not own PJO, I do not own PJO

"Annabeth, get out of there!" two guys shouted from above to the girl with honey blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. So, her name was Annabeth. Even though she just crushed my jaw, I definitely had a lot of respect for her. By only the pride in her eyes, I could tell she would be ready to fight all of us on her own. That's what made me hesitate over what to do with her. I was snapped back to reality when I heard something being lit. Crap, those idiots had explosives. As an item about the size of a fire cracker dropped from the fire escape above, I sprinted out of the alley with Rachel in tow.

The explosion didn't end up being very big, but I knew about those guys and I wouldn't doubt that they probably had a lot more things they could blow us up with. We all hopped into the Mercury Mariner and Grover drove us away from there. Only then did I really process the fact that we had lost the girl in our haste. I was sitting in the far back with Rachel, who was cuddled up to my chest. Nico was in shotgun, so he had Teenagers by My Chemical Romance blaring out of the speakers.

Finally, I had to break the silence, "Who was that girl?"

"Annabeth Chase," Grover stated and added quietly, "You were pretty brave to go near that girl while she had a knife. She's the best knife fighter in the area and also the best strategist. While quite a few Aegis members have spent a bit of time in a hospital bed, she's only been there to visit people. She's a force to be reckoned with."

I don't know what made me press on about her, "What kind of background does she have?"

Nico chuckled, "Why do you care? The only encounter you've had with her was her bruising your jaw. If I was you, I wouldn't give a shit."

Quickly, I made up an excuse, "The more info you have on an opponent, the better off you are."

While Nico rolled his eyes, Juniper was nice enough to explain, "She ran away from her family when she was little. People rumor that she was abused, but she was really just neglected. When she ran off, she met up with her two closest gang members, Thalia and Luke. They taught her how to fight and now she's amazing at it. If the three of them are ever fighting together, they're practically impossible to defeat. Now, the three of them run Aegis together."

They still didn't look completely convinced as to why I was asking, but that sucks for them. After a good five minutes filled to the brim with awkward silence, Grover dropped me and Rachel off at my apartment. We opened the door to find my mom eating her dinner alone at the counter.

"Hey kids," she greeted happily. The gleam in her eyes clearly told me that she was happy to have someone around again. My dad left when right after I was born. The only other person my mom had dated since then (and got married to) was Gabe Ugliano. That relationship was ended by my hands though.

_Gabe was sitting around at our table, playing poker with all his other ugly buddies for the third time that week. Smoke clouded the air from their cigarettes and beer bottles were scattered about. My mom had warned him not to gamble away all of our money, but he simply ignored her. She only married him to protect me. You see, my family was pretty weak financially and if you're poor in my area, you join a gang to get money._

"_Hey babe," he called to my mom in the kitchen, "Is that dip almost done?"_

_She came out with her apron around her waist, "No, it needs longer to cook."_

_He was far from a patient man though, "Well, go turn up the oven." She didn't even argue, but what he did next pushed me too far. As she was walking back to the kitchen, he smacked her butt. Yes, I was only a few feet away, being a good fourteen year old boy, and he slapped her ass right in front of me. Shooting up out of my seat, I approached him and shoved him hard, "What the hell?"_

"_**Never**__ touch her again," I growled at him._

_He laughed darkly at that, "You're not the one who married her, kid. I can touch her wherever I want."_

_That caused me to snap completely. I swiped all of his cards and poker chips off the table and pointed furiously at the door, "Get out! No one wants you here! You just mooch off of us and make us suffer! Now leave before I have to make you!"_

_Even though he obeyed, he shot me a nasty glare before leaving with his friends behind him. The door slammed shut and my mom appeared with a tear-stained face, "Percy-"_

_I went and wrapped my arms around her, "I know mom, but you're better off without him."_

_She sobbed into my chest, "But what about money?"_

"_Don't worry, we'll figure it out," I assured her._

"How was your night?" my mom asked me and Rachel. Rachel glanced at me, unsure what to tell her. My mom is perfectly aware that I'm in a gang, but I can tell she worries about me so I try not to mention it to her much.

"Uh… pretty boring," I lied, "We just caught a movie and grabbed some food after."

Rachel checked her watch, "I should go," she told me. She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and left.

Saying good night to my mom, I went to my room and fell asleep almost instantly. The next morning I was awake, ready, and out the door for school before my mom had even gotten out of bed. Having ADHD and dyslexia can make school rather difficult and I've pretty much given up. There's only one class that I'm completely able to keep my focus in: gym. Since there are no tests, projects, or lessons, it is by far my favorite class.

My friends and I were supposed to be playing touch football, but we turned it into tackle football in a matter of minutes. I was QB for my team, so I didn't have to do very much which was good because I was still pretty wiped out from the night before. Nico and Tyson were in the grade below me, but Grover was in my grade and on my team. He wasn't the best at football, yet I could still manage with the others. The ball was snapped to me and I sprinted down the field for a touchdown. For fun, I threw the ball down and flipped onto the ground. With all my teammates laughing at me, I got up. As I began trotting back to them, something nailed me in the back of the head so hard I nearly fell over from the impact.

"Watch it!" I yelled, and picked up the soccer ball which had hit me. Spinning on my heel I found myself face-to-face with the stormy-eyed girl, Annabeth Chase.

She recognized me immediately, "I nearly busted your jaw and yet you're worried about your head. That's already damaged beyond repair anyway."

Why is this girl making fun of me when she doesn't even know me? That's one of the things I hate about being in a gang, you're judged even more than the average teenager, "You just love putting me in pain, don't you?"

A sly smile crept across her face, "I consider it my job."

"Then I guess I'll be seeing a lot more of you." Wait, what did I say? It's not like I want to see more of her, I'm supposed to beat her up. What if she thought that sounded flirty? If Rachel found out, she'd kill us both.

Love it? Hate it? Either way, please review. I've been getting a bit of hits, but barely any reviews. So if you could take the minute of your life to write something, it would be appreciated. Leave it blank for all I care, it would just be nice to know you at least care that much.

And a special thanks to Alexandra Nightshade, PJOcouplesfan1904 and waterpoloplayer for reviewing the first chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own PJO. On with the story back in Annabeth's POV.**

Homework. The only way that I can describe it is as a torture device made by the school board to punish teenagers. Yeah I'm smart, so it shouldn't take that long, but reading comprehension is just obnoxious. I spent a chunk of my night answering questions and writing an essay about some story on how the potato chip was created.

My phone started playing Ignorance by Paramore, so I snagged it off the counter, "Hello?"

There was some background noise I couldn't figure out, but Malcolm's voice rang out clearly (he's my half-brother and in the gang as well), "You need to get here fast."

My mind was reeling with questions, "Why? Where?"

"The Stolls are in an argument with Clarisse and some other Riptide members. It looks like a brawl's about to break out. Hurry up; we're only two blocks over by that abandoned deli."

The line went dead and I bolted for the door. My knife was already tucked into my jacket, so I had no need to stop as I hurried down the street. Luke and Thalia had found me sprinting down the street and joined me in my haste, even though they had no idea what they were getting into. Turning the corner I found Clarisse barking a bunch of curses in Connor's face. He just kept rolling his eyes at everything she said. Yep, this was definitely going to spiral into a fight. What I found odd was that all the Riptide members here were of lower status unlike the ones I ran into a few nights earlier.

"You splattered paint all over my apartment!" Clarisse was bellowing now. Her face was an extremely deep red from fury.

The two brothers simply grinned mischievously. Both of them were such trouble, it's a surprise neither of them had been murdered yet. "Technically, it's called graffiti," Travis pointed out with a sly smirk etched onto his face.

That pushed her way over the edge. She's known for a violent temper, and they are no helping cause. Charging after them, her buddies followed in suit after the rest of us. Some of their faces were familiar, but I usually only pay attention to the elite members. One came at me and threw a punch toward my gut. Catching it, I twisted his arm until he swung his leg to trip up my footing. As I stumbled to catch myself, he drew back and snap-kicked his sneaker clad foot to my shoulder. With only a slight wince of pain, I went at him again shoved him roughly into the wall of the deli. His back slammed against the wall and he crumpled to the ground.

Drawing my knife, I advanced on another Riptide member. He flinched slightly at the sight of the blade, yet he held his ground and drew his own switchblade. As if he'd actually beat me in a knife fight. Our blades collided as we both tried to strike each other's torso. Flicking my wrist, I caused his weapon to skitter across the pavement. However, we both froze when we heard a gunshot. From the corner of my eye, I saw Thalia shove Luke out of the way then she clutched her arm. Worry didn't even have a chance to possess me because a sharp blow to my head knocked me out. The last thing I heard was police sirens wailing down the road.

"Luke, I'm fine. Now could you stop worrying?" definitely Thalia's voice. My head felt like it had been trampled by a pack of gorillas, so I was surprised I could register her voice at all.

A part of me figured I should say something to tell her I was awake, but Luke's voice made me want to wait and eavesdrop, "What's wrong with me worrying? You took that bullet for me. You could've died and I wasn't going to let you get so close again."

Took a bullet for him? How injured was she? "Annabeth's unconscious and you're worrying about me? The bullet only grazed my arm, I'm fine."

"Her injuries aren't too bad, I checked already."

"Well my injury isn't bad either, so why are you worrying so much?" she pressed on. I was beginning to feel guilty for eavesdropping, but I was good at ignoring guilt. My eyes opened just enough to see, but not enough for them to tell I was awake. She put the hand of her unharmed arm to his cheek, "Tell me."

He sighed in defeat, "If Annabeth dies, that's bad. I'd never forgive myself and I'd miss her forever. However, I've come to terms with the fact that someday she'll probably have a life that doesn't involve us anymore. If you die, I wouldn't be able to keep going. It would be like half of me was torn from my anatomy. I just-" before he could finish that sentence, Thalia crashed her lips against his. It was about time, I had been hoping they'd get over themselves and get together for years.

After a little while, I decided to cut their make out session short by 'waking up', "What do you guys do when I'm asleep?"

Both of them pulled away from each other, blushing furiously and attempting to keep their cool. "Very funny," Thalia spat sarcastically, "How are you?"

I shook my head, "You're not avoiding the topic that easily. Are you two together now? Because I sure hope so."

Luke shifted his gaze back to Thalia, "That depends, are we?"

She shrugged, "Well, we already have Annabeth's approval, so why not?" I forced them into a group hug as a mini celebration. Yet Thalia had to go back to the previous conversation, "Seriously, are you okay?"

I'd been so into listening to them, that I had barely noticed my pounding headache, "Nothing some Advil can't fix. What happened anyway?"

Luke cleared his throat, "Clarisse fired a bullet at me, which Thalia took, and that's when police started coming. One of her buddies used the gunfire as a distraction to knock you out. With some help from the rest of our gang, I got both of you back here."

Thalia roared with laughter, "That's only because you refused to let me even walk by myself."

Considering I spent most of my night chatting away with my family, I was a zombie in school the next day. Every single class put me closer to wanting to punch somebody. Those feelings weren't exactly put to rest when I was told that I had to work with Rachel Elizabeth Dare on a history project. For the project, we had to create something based on Ancient Greece. I could barely contain my joy as we argued over what to do for our project.

**For those of you who are not happy with the Thuke in this story, I will be posting a Thalico one-shot eventually and I will put it in future stories. However, the Thuke in this story also leads to later plot. Besides that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review, I post faster that way. For the reviewers who gave me the helpful advice to make Percy tougher, his POV is next chapter. Hopefully, I improved that.**


	4. Chapter 4

**There were a lot less reviews last chapter, so I hope I didn't disappoint you all too much. Anyway, I still don't own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

In history class, I had gotten paired up with that senior from Aegis, Luke Castellan. He was one of Annabeth's close friends, and I'd heard that he could kick anyone's ass pretty easily. That didn't mean I was going to watch what I say with him though. He was still one of my rivals no matter what. Just the fact that he was in Aegis made him an enemy.

"I have an idea," I told him with a slight smirk on my face, "We should do a paper on how the Greek gods were a bunch of pimps and would knock up a bunch of mortal and immortal women." The atmosphere was still thick with tension despite my joking.

His mouth twitched into a small smile (though it seemed slightly pitiful), which caused his scar beneath his eye to ripple slightly. A part of me wanted to know how he got it, but I would never ask him. He shook his head, "We would flunk as soon as Mr. Brunner read the title. Let's both think of an idea tonight and we'll pick one tomorrow. Besides, I don't want to be ready to kill you by the end of the day. I try to keep my gang life out of school." He had a point about trying to keep his gang life out of school. It may be difficult, but it's easier to avoid legal trouble that way.

I nodded in agreement and decided to enjoy the show going on at the table in front of me. Rachel and Annabeth were arguing about their project. Both of them were trying, and failing, to keep calm throughout planning.

"How about we do something on architecture?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Rachel shot her down instantly. Girls arguing is just so funny, "Those building are in ruins for a reason," I chuckled at her comeback, "We should do something on art."

An evil smile grew on Annabeth's face, "Well, most art at that time consisted of nude sculptures and paintings, but if that's your forte…"

Damn, that girl knows how to fight back. It took every inch of my will power not to bust up laughing. I probably should've defended my girlfriend, but she would've gotten angry at me for interfering. She puts it as that if I can go beat people up in a gang fight, she should be allowed to fight her own battles.

"Fine," Rachel agreed sourly, "I'll build whatever you sketch and you're writing the summary." Annabeth agreed, not looking to continue arguing. It bummed me out a bit that I wouldn't get to watch them fight anymore.

The bell went off, but something caught my eye. Annabeth's blond hair had a few tiny flecks of red in the back. Dried blood. I didn't fight her last night, so I had no idea how she got that way. If my gang had attacked her, I would know. As if to make things stranger, Luke went out into the hallway and put his arm around that dark-haired girl's shoulders. So they're together now. That could definitely be an advantage to Riptide. My eye caught a thin white bandage around her arm. A red blotch was in the center, probably from a gunshot. I could only find one explanation as to how they could've been attacked: Clarisse. She's supposed to be taking orders from me, but there is no controlling what she does.

Once I finished up my last few classes, I found Clarisse out behind the school. She was tripping the freshman as they walked by, how kind. Her friends were huddled around her and laughing at the underclassman as they fell to the ground. Having a fist fight with our rival gang without me knowing; that's one thing. Using a gun and most likely knives on them is completely different and much worse.

"Clarisse!" I barked as I stormed up to her, "What the hell are you doing?"

She knew what I was talking about, but she decided to play dumb, "What do you mean? I didn't hurt your stupid girlfriend."

"You know exactly what I am talking about. You attacked Aegis last night, didn't you?"

"They splattered paint all over my apartment, no shit I would get revenge."

I shook my head with impatience, "I know you don't want to listen to me, but I'm the leader for a reason. Attacking them by yourself could've gotten you all killed. Next time, I'd better be informed of it."

Her and her friends laughed at my attempt at control, "We'll be sure to do that."

"I'm serious Clarisse," I barked and shoved her, "If you get hurt or thrown in jail over not telling me, I'm not going to help you out. You can figure it out yourself."

She looked ready to punch me, yet something kept her from doing so. Instead, she just kept glaring at me.

I spun on my heel to walk away and added, "It'll be a day for the history books if you decide to actually give a crap and listen."

If it was only my decision, they wouldn't be in the gang still. They continued to laugh as I left, and it was tempting to go back and take down all of them. Believe me; it's not that hard of a task. While they got to have fun being stupid, I had to go and find a project I could do. My mom was out at work, so I had the apartment to myself as I Googled some ideas online. I had finally found the perfect one when Rachel threw open my door. Yes, she has a key to my apartment. No, it isn't what you're thinking; all Riptide members have a key to my apartment in case of emergency. Or a visit in this case.

"She's so annoying!" she shrieked and slammed the door shut, "That obnoxious girl made me look like a total idiot today!"

Knowing exactly what she was talking about, I went and put my arms around her, "I know. You two don't talk very quietly."

Her face became bright red, "You heard that?" She took my uncomfortable shift as a yes, "Well, she's annoying, but she'll be doing most of the hard work. At least I'm not officially in the gang, because that would really suck. You have to work with Luke. That must be awkward."

My shoulders lifted in a shrug, "We haven't even started yet. Actually, I just found an idea that might work. It will be even better because I'll get to kick his butt at the same time."

She giggled. That was rather rare; giggling just wasn't her thing, "Oh boy, what's your idea?"

"We have a trial swordfight with Greek weapons and write a short paper their warfare."

Her eyebrow arched in curiosity, "Your brilliant idea is to beat each other up with swords? Won't that just cause more of an uproar from the gangs?"

"So?" I challenged, "Besides, it'll be me beating him up with a sword."

Luke may be a good fist-fighter, but let's see how good he is with a sword.

**I'm a girl, but my guy friends have told me that they find girls arguing really funny, but they don't know why. That's a just little fun fact about why I wrote that scene and I hope you liked it or found it amusing. **

**So Percy got to do some eavesdropping on his girlfriend and Clarisse is becoming a problem for him. And why didn't she kill him for shoving her? That's to be found out later. Now could you all please review? Like I said, there weren't many last chapter so I want to know if you guys want me to keep this up.**

**Special thanks to trekkie56, Alexandra Nightshade, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant, and Reviewing Awesomeness for being the few reviewers last chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**First of all, I do not, nor will I ever own PJO. Anyway, a good point was brought up in a review by Philo0sophia. Last chapter it was mentioned that Percy was the leader of Riptide. How I think of it is that Percy leads all of the fighters, but there someone more powerful in charge. The main point was that Percy just had authority over Clarisse. I doubt I will do much more than mention the other leader in this story though. Sorry for the confusion and thank you Philo0sophia for bringing that up.**

**Annabeth POV (In case you haven't noticed, I'm switching off every other chapter)**

It had been two weeks since we were assigned our history project. I finished my half of the project within the first week to get it over with. However, Luke kept disappearing to work on his. Apparently, he was going to stage a swordfight with Percy for history class. Knowing it probably wouldn't end well, I kept my distance when they were working together. I wanted absolutely no part of it. Luke had supposedly been dominating until Thalia stepped into the fun. Somehow the guys both got swords and she found a shield and spear. She didn't plan on using it in gang fights, but she was able to kick their butts with ease. Anyway, that left me with very little to do and a bit too much free time on my hands.

Don't get me wrong, I was glad to have some relaxing time to myself. For some reason, I was unable to relax though. It was like that feeling you get when you know something bad is going to happen and you can't stay still (my ADHD wasn't helping either). If you don't get that, try to empathize with me. Anyway, I was wound so tight, I felt about to snap. Thalia and Luke were supposed to be back soon, but I didn't think they'd really be able to help me in this case.

Finally fed up with sitting around, I decided to go out. Grabbing a jean jacket, I threw it on and went down the elevator and out through the lobby. Even though spring was approaching, it was a bitter cold night out on the streets. My school was having a long weekend, so I still had quite a few days before work began to pile up again. After walking aimlessly for a while, I actually noticed the fact that it was past midnight. Stores and restaurants were closing around me. Pretty soon, the usually busy streets were lit only by the dim street lamps.

Rounding a corner back to the apartment, I got stuck in the worst position possible. A bunch of Riptide members were crowded at the end of the road, and not all of them seemed completely sober. Of course they spotted me. Normally, I don't get caught this frequently. Quite frankly it sucks. Before I could escape, a huge metal force plowed into my back and sent me skidding across the paved road. Great, I was scratched up before the real fight could even start. The metal that had slammed into me was a shield by none other than Percy. Stupid history project.

Snapping to my feet, I snagged toward my pocket for my knife. It wasn't there. How the hell could it have not been there? With my hurry to leave the apartment, I must've forgotten it. Now, I would have to pay for that. Of course I get busted the _one _time I forget my knife. They all charged me in unison. It was nearly impossible to fend off the eight of them at once. I was launching punches and kicks around me like crazy. Every now and then I'd feel a bone break or blood run from where I hit someone. Jabs striking me from every side were leaving welts on me. There were just too many of them.

My blonde hair was wrapped in someone's fist and I was yanked violently to the ground. Once I hit the ground, they dealt me a few more blows to the side until they knew I'd stay. Every part of me ached from my new bruises. I didn't think I was bleeding anywhere, but those bruises were definitely enough.

"What do we do with her?" I heard one guy ask. There were a couple seconds of awkward shuffling that followed.

Rachel was the one to break the quiet (that's nothing new), "I vote we leave her. She already finished her part of our project anyway." Seriously, why is she talking? If I wasn't beaten up so bad, I would've punched her lights out. She manages to get on my last nerve so easily.

Through my blurred vision, I saw quite a few shaking heads. Another guy spoke up, "One of us should take her. She's one of the best bargaining chips we can get off of Aegis. So, who's the lucky guy that gets to keep her for a while?" The way he said the last part made me shiver in disgust. His voice had 'pervert' written all over it. Gagging at the idea of what that guy was probably thinking, I tried to block out all those thoughts. To my utter shock, Percy came forward and picked me up. I wanted to punch him and tell him to get lost, but my whole body screamed in pain-filled protest.

"P-Percy," Rachel stammered, "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking her back to my place." Normally, that would really creep me out, but what he said next made it seem like he didn't plan on doing anything to me, "We could really use her against Aegis and I'm not sure I can trust the rest of you from screwing that up. My mom's gone for the weekend, so I don't have to worry about getting busted either. We'll keep her there until we figure out something good we want from them."

Rachel still wasn't happy, "I'm not so sure about this…"

"Do you trust me?" That was all he asked. His voice was fueled with anger though, as if he was mad at the thought of her not trusting him. I'm assuming she nodded though because there was silence as he lugged me back to the car. I'll admit it, he was pretty strong. He was able to carry me a few blocks to his car with almost no trouble. On the bright side: I got shotgun. The down side: this whole night, plus the fact he resorted to tying me to the chair. Like I could move if I wanted to. Even though he had turned up the radio, I heard him mutter, "You're pretty damn stupid to have been wandering around by yourself."

In an attempt of a shrug, I winced, "Yeah, but if I had my knife I could've taken all of you."

He rolled his eyes, "If you say so…"

Just to bug him, I added, "I do say so."

He shook his head, but a slight smile crept up on his mouth, "Shut up, Wise Girl." I don't where he got the name from, but I would've been in hysterics if the situation was different. Somehow, I could always get him to smile, even if it was from me insulting him.

**This was a bit of a filler chapter, but it leads into the next chapter that I believe you will all love. I thank everyone who reviewed last chapter, it inspired me a lot and now I think I know how I want the rest of the story to go. Keep on reviewing, I really appreciate it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Percy POV**

Before releasing Annabeth from the seat she was restrained to, I bound her hands and feet. Taking a handful of her jacket, I lugged her into my apartment. With a flick of my hand, she fell to the living room floor with a _thud_. I went into to my room and changed into some flannel pants to sleep in. It seemed like the best idea to sleep on the couch, so I would wake up if she tried to escape. When I walked into the other room, her eyes went wide at my bare torso. Normally, I would consider that a compliment to my six-pack, but I realized that her eyes were glowing with pure fear.

She really thought I would stoop that low? I know some people do, but I have a girlfriend and I'm still a virgin. That may sound weird for a guy my age, but I really don't need any more to worry about. Even though she's my enemy, I still don't want a rep as a sexual predator. Thankfully my mom was gone this weekend, because I would hate to have to explain this situation to her.

"I'm not going to rape you," I assured her, "I might hurt you a little, but not in that way."

Her breath came out a bit ragged, "Thanks, that's real helpful." Just my luck, I get sarcasm in return for mercy, "Why are you keeping me alive anyway? You all could've killed me if you wanted to."

Plopping down on the floor next to her, I sighed, "We don't need murder on our hands. The cops already have us under their radar for a bunch of other crimes. Plus, we can get a huge ransom off of you. You're a prize to us."

"Yeah, I'm a real keeper," as she confessed a slight doubt of herself to me, she seemed to catch what she did and stiffened up. From the action, she winced in pain. Being covered in bruises must've been taking a lot out of her. She always appeared so tough, but now she looked pretty beat.

"Would we have taken you if you weren't worth something? If nothing else, you're worth a lot to them." What the hell am I saying? I'm freaking comforting her when I'm gonna be the cause of her pain. I should've kept my mouth shut.

She chuckled, "You're so weird."

I'll admit that I was quite taken aback by that, "Hey, don't get on my case. I was just trying to be nice to you. If you want, I could be beating the crap out of you."

"You don't get it, do you?" Her voice was steely with anger, "You shouldn't be nice to me. It only makes it harder when you have to hurt me. Even friendly gestures can take quite a toll. It's best to keep everyone out; it does a lot less harm."

This was unbelievable. She was preaching to me about not getting close to people, yet she would turn to shambles if anything were to happen to her precious family, "I highly doubt that you truly believe that."

"You know what?" She snarled, "Forget it. It doesn't matter what either of us think of anything, we're still destined to eternally hate each other," she paused for a second and blew a fallen strand of hair out of her face, "That sounds really stupid because that's all based on judgment, but it's just how things are."

This girl is by far the most confusing person I have ever met. And believe me, I know some pretty crazy people in my life. One minute she's shutting me out, and the next she's saying how stupid that is. This would be one of those times where I wish I could read minds. She probably makes more sense in her own head.

"This sucks," I grumbled, not knowing exactly what I meant. It sucked because I hated being judged, but I seem to judge everyone. It sucked because I was hurting people to make some money for my mom and me. It sucked because for all I knew, this girl could've been my best friend instead of my worst enemy if it weren't for our gangs.

"Stop complaining," she told me. I was about to argue when she added, "You're not the one tied up against their will."

As wrong as I thought it was to do, I began roaring with laughter at her misunderstanding. I don't know why it was so funny. Maybe it was because she was known for being smart, yet she could only find the simplicity of something _I_ said. It could've been the fact that it was good to know that even the mightiest of gang members had their flaws. All I know was that that I was laughing harder than I had in a really long time. No one I knew had made me laugh like that, and I loved feeling that way. It only got better when I saw the puzzled look on her face.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

I finally managed to regain oxygen in my lungs, "That wasn't what I meant at all."

"What did you mean then?"

I put my back up against the same wall as her, and told her exactly what I had been thinking and why I had been laughing. For some reason, I didn't have an issue being open with her. She understood what I was going through. Sometimes Rachel would try to sympathize with me, but that only angered me because she really didn't know. Turning to face her to see what she would have to say, I noticed that our faces were now only about five inches apart. The dark bruises forming on certain parts of her face still couldn't mar it. She may be in my rival gang, but I'm honest enough to admit that she was pretty.

"You really think that _we _could've been best friends?"

It was easy to doubt, but I believed it, "Don't be so quick to shoot that down. You don't know anything about me."

"Are you saying I should get to know something about you?"

"Maybe," I breathed lightly. Having ADHD makes me pretty impulsive, but what I did next definitely topped my list of the stupidest things I've done. Leaning in, I pressed my lips against hers. I could feel her tense up with surprise, but in the end she even kissed me back a little. There was no explanation to why I did it, but I'm still not sure whether or not I regret it. When we parted, I whispered, "That's one thing you now know about me: I'm a great kisser."

Getting up, I wandered to my room, leaving her completely confused. I was able to leave her alone, she wasn't going anywhere.

**Okay people, I know that the last chapter was a bit of a filler but I definitely wasn't expecting such a negative response. I only got four reviews. If there's something I'm doing wrong that has me getting so few reviews, could someone please speak up? I now know what I want to do with this story, but do you all want me to continue it?**

**I pray that you guys liked this chapter enough to review it. If not, I'm sorry to disappoint.**

**On that depressing note, I give great thanks to PJOcouplesfan1904, 437, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant and XxPercyJacksonxX for being the only ones to review last chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, last chapter I posted stuff about how little reviews I got. With the help of alidei who reviewed last chapter, I realize I sounded like a major bitch. I'm not so much worried about how many reviews I get, it was just the fact that I went from like nine to four reviews that confused me and I wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally offend someone or anything like that. Call me paranoid, but I just wanted to be sure. Anyway, I apologize because now that I reread that author's note I see that I sounded really annoying.**

**Besides the point, I still don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

I woke up on a cold wood floor with my body aching everywhere. Bruises were in random splotches across my arms and legs and probably my face. As I attempted to stretch myself out despite the bonds on my wrists and ankles, memories from last night returned. Percy had kissed me. We had been getting along by some miracle, and I guess he took it a certain way. When my head began pounding less, I could hear the sound of food sizzling in a frying pan. It smelled like some eggs were cooking. Ugh, it only reminded me how hungry I was.

"It's about time you got up," I heard Percy mock.

Sitting up against the wall, I opened my eyes to see him standing in the kitchen. He was wearing a tight navy t-shirt, dark grey hoodie and jeans that were torn up at the knee. I'll confess, he looked pretty hot. Last night kind of changed my entire opinion of him, but that doesn't mean I won't still fight him.

I chuckled slightly, "I was sleeping off some of my bruises."

"Sorry about that. We usually don't go to that much of extremes but-" he was cut off by his apartment door being kicked open by Thalia and Luke. They had come to save me already? I was glad I wouldn't be for ransom any longer, but a part of me hoped to stay for a tad more time.

Luke charged Percy and threw a quick combo of punches to his face. Their fight continued as Thalia raced over to me and cut the ropes with my knife. Apparently, she thought ahead enough to bring my knife for me. Since I was still pretty weak, she slung one of my arms over her shoulders and started dragging me to the door. As we crossed the room, I craned my neck to look back at the fight. Percy shoved Luke away from him, but Luke snapped a roundhouse kick to his head and he went down. My last look in his apartment was Percy using the counter for support, staring longingly into my eyes. In some sort of odd way, we actually connected last night.

They rushed me down into the car, and Luke instantly floored it down the road. I was lying on the backseat, while they high-fived each other in the front seats. It surprised me a bit that they didn't bring more of the gang along. Thalia was the first to talk, "That'll show them not to mess with us. Did they really think they would get away with taking her?"

While Thalia was raving happily, Luke looked into one of his car mirrors to see me, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired. Hungry. Sore." My voice was low and groggy.

"You'll be back home soon," he assured me.

Thalia took his free hand in one of hers and placed her other one comfortingly on my back. She may be tough, but she has the biggest soft side for Luke and especially me. After all, I am the baby of our little family.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{}{**

The next day was torture. I was still extremely sore, so Thalia and Luke let me skip school. I only got up three times before they got back. First, to go get Advil. Second, to get something to eat. Lastly, to go and watch TV on the couch. They came back to find me watching a special on ancient ruins on the Discovery Channel.

"How's your history project going?" I asked Luke as he plopped onto the floor in front me with his back against the couch.

He shrugged, "It would've gone better if Percy wasn't being a little bitch." A part of me wanted to rise to Percy's defense, yet I didn't know why.

Thalia sat next to him, "That doesn't shock me. You nailed him yesterday." He grinned and wrapped an arm around her.

"What was he doing?"

"He kept complaining about how we stormed his apartment the other day," Luke explained, "I think that he has some crazy idea in his head that you're in love with him or something. He said something like 'Did you ever think that, just maybe, she would've wanted to stay?' We didn't get any work done on the paper because he was arguing with me throughout the entire class period."

Percy had been arguing with Luke over me? Why would he do that? Quickly, I found a good lie, "That's weird. He just left me there last night. It was better than I expected, but nothing to fight over me about."

It seemed to brighten their moods to know that the worst hadn't happened to me. A couple minutes later, I had him pick me up and carry me to my room. I spent the next few hours doing make-up work from school. Just before I nearly crashed for the night, there was a loud rapping sound on my window. Nearly falling out of my bed from surprise, I turned to my window to see Percy on my fire escape. What the hell did he want?

When I unlocked my window he pulled it open and took my hand, "Please, come out. I need to talk to you."

Even though I wasn't thrilled with the idea, I climbed out next to him. It was slightly embarrassing that I was only in a pair of Luke's old basketball shorts and a dark tank top, but at least I had my knife with me in case he brought along some of his friends. "What do you want?" I interrogated abruptly with my stormy eyes burning into his sea green ones.

He sighed and leaned on the fire escape, "We both know, whether we want to admit it or not, that we made a connection last night. I feel like I can talk to you more than anyone else. Don't deny that you don't feel the same way, because you confessed more than you realize to me. Anyway, I might've taken things a bit far when I kissed you. I apologize, but I don't regret it," he paused for a moment to take a breath, "I'm not saying you should go out with me, but can we at least…talk sometime?"

Not having any clue how to react, I remained silent.

He groaned and face-palmed, "I sound like one of those overdramatic, love drunk teenagers who usually end up killed in horror movies."

Even though it was a pretty lame joke, I laughed my ass off for a good minute. He laughed right along with me, so I felt a little less insane. Maybe he was right; I could be open with him. Sure I have Thalia and Luke, but it's different. Being with him was just different from being with them. I can't really explain it, but it felt right.

"You may sound like one, but…," I said and found his hopeful eyes piercing mine, "I think you're right. Here," I took his hand and scribbled my number down on it with some random Sharpie I pulled out of my window from my desk. He wrote his on my hand and tossed the marker back through the window.

Since he took the risk of coming here, I didn't just want to immediately send him away. We stood there in comfortable silence, neither of us wanting to be the first to break it. The cold air blew over my bare skin and caused a shiver to run up my spine.

Finally breaking the silence, Percy caught this and unzipped his same gray hoodie. Placing it around my shoulders, he smiled, "Keep it. The gray matches your eyes."

Fighting off a light blush, I thanked him before he went back down the fire escape.

**Well, there's another chapter done with. I know that most of you probably don't care for these author's notes, but this is where I like to point out certain reviews that are submitted. I got a review from Musafreen for chapter two who made a point that I would like to bring up. I personally also hate it when people make Rachel a bitch, but you'll see in this story that she's only a bitch to Annabeth and you'll find out why later. So I hope that that didn't push anyone away from this story because Rachel actually reappears next chapter. **

**Thanks to XxPercyJacksonxX, Bhares Lawke, HiThereSmiley, CrystalLuna13, amy-x-ian-forever, NEIWIS, ...123, Little Miss Hades, PJOcouplesfan1904, DefyingPopular, waterpoloplayer, atlchick313, and ilove-sam-and-freddie-seddie for reviewing chapter six.**

**Special thanks to Musafreen and alidei for their constructive reviews that I mentioned.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to all reviewed: **XxXxLOVExXxX, amy-x-ian-forever, CrystalLuna13, Alexandra Nightshade, HeartOnWings , Bombshell9, Team Percabeth, percabeth2010, DefyingPopular, wisegirl1333, ...123, 42 IS the answer, HiThereSmiley, Bhares Lawke, atlchick313, ilove-sam-and-freddie-seddie, **and** Leminyx

**And 437, I laughed hysterically when I read your review. I wish I had thought of that, but I didn't.**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

Leaping off the fire escape, I bolted down the road and into a nearby alleyway. Slamming my foot against a huge dumpster, I growled with frustration. I was such an idiot. I let myself fall for my sworn enemy. That was a mistake I couldn't take back, and, quite frankly, I wasn't so sure that I wanted to. She was what I needed, but I figured that if I told her that, she would've pushed me away in an instant. I officially liked Annabeth Chase. I'm not ashamed to be, but it puts both me and her in even more danger.

Before I could continue this, I knew I had to go and end something else. As much as I hated facing it, I couldn't keep dating Rachel while I liked Annabeth. Maybe if I ended things calmly, I could still be friends with her. That rarely actually happens to people, but Rachel definitely wasn't like most girls. Jogging through the streets of the city, I finally arrived at her deluxe size house. There are few houses around here, none the less ones that gigantic. Not even bothering with the doorbell, I hopped up her fire escape (apparently a new skill of mine).

Knocking on her window, I heard her approach and then she pushed it open, "Hey, come in."

"I have to tell you something," I went and plopped down on the edge of her queen-sized bed. How was I supposed to word this? "Rachel, you know I like you, right?"

She clearly knew this wasn't going in a good direction, "Yeah…why?"

"Well…um, I kinda. Hm…how can I put this?" Running a hand through my hair, I regained my composure. "I really do like you, but I think I might like someone else too," she hid it well, but I noticed her cringe slightly. Plus, I decided it would probably be best to leave out the part where I kissed Annabeth, "It wouldn't be right for me to keep dating you while I'm so unsure. I don't want to hurt you like that. This is going to sound a bit stupid, but can we still be friends?" That came out a lot faster than I had planned.

Based off of many TV shows and movies I've seen, I had expected her to start screaming or to slap me across the face. To my surprise, she hugged me tightly around the waist. Wrapping my arms around her, I stroked her hair gently.

"Of course I still want to be friends," she mumbled into my shoulder. This is why I still wanted to be friends with her. She was so much more relaxed than most girls I knew. She didn't even shed a single tear like I had thought she might've.

She seemed a little upset though, so I chose to give it a go at joking around, "You're so calm about this. Am I going to go home to find you ready to kill me with a knife?"

Even though she rolled her eyes at my awful joke (What? We can't all be comedians), I could tell it made her a bit happier.

"No," she told me, "And I won't be hiding underneath your bed or in your closet either, so there's no need to check."

"Good," I told her as I stumbled back out through her window, "We were happy as friends before we started dating, so this shouldn't be that hard." I mostly said that to reassure myself, but she nodded in agreement.

I was down a flight of her fire escape's stairs when she called down, "Percy." Snapping my head up her way, I heard her softly admit, "Whoever you like is going to be really lucky to have you. You may be stuck in that gang, but I know you'll make a name for yourself someday." Normally, I would consider that a compliment, but Annabeth probably wouldn't find me to be that much of a blessing.

The next day I was at the gym practicing with Luke for our fight. Since he still hadn't gotten over my gang kidnapping Annabeth, he was making things even more awkward and tense than usual. And that's saying something.

He came at me with his sword and I blocked right before it would have sliced my chest open. With as much force as I could gather, I shoved against his blade and he fell to ground. I went to hold my sword to his neck and call it a match, but he sprang up off his back, kicking me in the process. His kick had hit my face, and caused my nose to bleed a little. Normally we would try not to fight this rough, but he was too angry with me to care. Jabbing for his legs, I realized I had just made a losing mistake. In the end of our fights, he always won. I'm just glad his girlfriend wasn't around this time to humiliate us both.

Dodge-rolling away from my sword, he was then able to launch himself at me before I could turn to defend myself. He knocked my weapon from my hands and hammered me to floor. Yet again, he had beaten me. I expected him to simply walk away victoriously, but instead he put the tip of his sword dangerously close to my throat.

"Listen to me carefully," he ordered menacingly. We were glaring at each other as he spoke, "You may think you're some saint because you didn't let Annabeth off as bad as you could have, but she still has the bruises on her to prove that you're scum." Um, hypocritical much? "I don't know what happened while she was with you, but she's not obsessed over you like you seem to think. So you can stop believing that she loves you before she has to beat you off." He kicked me in the side for good measure, and then he calmly packed up his stuff and left.

"Look who's talking!" I growled as the doors fluttered shut behind him.

There was so much I knew that he didn't. He didn't know that Annabeth and I were getting along. He didn't know that I liked her. Most importantly, he didn't know that I was planning to win her heart. Compared to me, he was clueless. And I was just about to add one more item to the list of things he didn't know. Pulling my phone out of my bag, I dialed Annabeth's number.

Her voice made her sound almost happy to talk to me, "Hey, what's up?"

"Meet me at the fountain in the park at eleven tonight," I told her and snapped the phone shut before she could respond. Now, all I had to do was make her like me. Tonight, I would try to ask her out. I've been in so many near death situations, but why was that making my heart thud harder than all of those combined?

**So you got to see the nice side of Rachel and the asshole side of Luke. I love all of your reviews and I hope you all continue to review. This story is probably going to be about twenty chapters plus an epilogue.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, so I have never read West Side Story but after I got my second review yesterday stating that my story was very much like it, I looked up a summary online. Now I realize that the two stories are incredibly close and I apologize.**

**Anyway, I don't own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

I wandered to the fountain in the park at eleven like Percy had asked, though some more info from him would've been nice. To my surprise he had been sitting there waiting for me. Striding up to where he was sitting, I joined him on the grass. Since the park is usually more for children, no one was there by then. And you can call me paranoid, but I did pack my knife in case he tries anything. When I sat with him, he simply laid back down on the grass and motioned for me to do the same. I found it odd that he wasn't using words for once, but listened (sort of) to him.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" I wasn't going to spend my night playing a mime game. If he was going to waste my time, I did not plan on staying.

He shrugged, "Just to talk."

"Well," I began snidely, "Then why don't you speak?" He seemed weirdly nervous about talking to me even though it was his idea.

Propping himself up on his elbows, he suggested, "Let's just go back and forth with questions." I didn't find it to be the most creative plan, but I nodded for him to go first, "Why did you run away from home when you were little?" I don't know how he even knew that.

For his first question, he was already digging deep. I'm not one to back down from a challenge though, "My dad had no clue that my mother was pregnant with me. After I was born, she was unable to raise me and she knew he could. When she left me with him, he wanted no part of me. He got remarried and cared for me even less since he had now had two little boys to adore. Not to mention that my stepmom hated my guts. Between the two of them, I'd end up with slim amounts of food and attention. I was practically taking care of myself anyway, so I left."

Nodding to show he'd been paying attention, Percy seemed to think I would've been more upset while admitting this, "You appear to have put that behind you. Now it's your turn to ask me a question."

"Alright," I thought for a moment, "Why are you pushing this friendship so much?"

He hesitated to answer, "Can we come back to that question?"

I rolled my eyes, "Fine. Why did you start dating Rachel?"

His eyebrow shot up, "Is someone a tad jealous?"

Okay, that so did not come out as I had planned. I was far from jealous of Rachel. She was dating him, and I barely knew him. I just found it odd because he didn't seem like he would date a girl out of his gang even if that's common for guys.

"Very cute," I told him sarcastically, "Now answer my question."

Lying on his back with his hands behind his head, he sighed, "For starters, I'm actually not even dating her anymore; I broke up with her. We're still friends though. I started liking her in the first place because-"

"Wait," I interrupted, "You broke up with her?" He nodded and gave me an 'I just said that' look. "Why?"

"We were happy as friends and she wasn't thrilled with me being in a gang. I'm sure you can understand that part."

I shrugged, "To an extent. I usually don't date people for that reason. They wouldn't get it, and I would feel like I was dragging them into it."

"I get it."

Tensing up, I looked him dead in the eye, "Are you suggesting I date you?" The following silence was enough of a yes for me. My heart pounded in my chest. Not because I was nervous, I was afraid. Afraid of the feeling of liking him that had washed over me the second my question escaped my lips. It was hard for me to believe he had fallen for me in only about a month since I'd known him, but his eyes were filled with sincerity.

Instead of giving me a straight answer, he asked another question, "Now do you see why I was pushing this friendship?"

Pathetically enough, I couldn't find the words to respond, which is super rare for me. I couldn't even control myself enough to push him away when he kissed me. A part of me didn't want to end it either. Scratch that; none of me wished to end it. Placing my arms loosely around his neck, I kissed him back forcefully. He rolled over on top of me, and neither of us wanted to be the one to break the amazing kiss we had started. Sadly, we did eventually have to come up for air.

Jumping up, he shook his head wildly, "We shouldn't be doing this." Then he began shouting, more at himself than me though, "They're going to kill me! How the hell am I supposed to get money now?"

Hoping to comfort him, I went and hugged him. "You're not very good at planning," I joked and felt him shake from withheld laughter, "Lucky for you, I have an idea. There's no way we can afford not seeing each other now, so we'll keep this a secret. No one will have to know." It was very unlike me to sneak around over anything, but there's a first time for everything.

"What if we have to fight each other? I don't want to hurt you again."

This is where being a master strategist comes in handy, "If we meet with our gangs, we go for someone else. We simply do our best to avoid each other."

"Usually, smart girls can be pretty annoying," he told me. I was about to scold him when he added, "But you make it seem pretty hot."

As a quick thank you, I planted a kiss on his cheek before running off through the park. Checking my phone I realized that it was not only midnight, but I had five missed calls from Luke. Crap, it was the first time Percy and I were really 'together', and I was about to blow it already. Pouring on extra speed, I made it back to the apartment in just less than five minutes. Luke and Thalia were standing in the living room waiting when I got there.

"See," Thalia said to Luke, "I told you they wouldn't mess with her."

He ignored her and studied me, "Where were you?"

Well I definitely wasn't going to tell them that I just went and had a make out session with Percy, "The library. I lost track of time and my phone was already dead. Plus, I had to take a longer route to avoid Riptide members." _Or run into to them_ I added mentally.

That didn't relax him much, "At least you're safe. Now get some sleep, or I'll probably start lecturing you."

I knew he was serious even though he said that in a joking tone. Giving them quick hugs, I ran off to my room. Sparing a glance behind me, I saw them kiss passionately for a moment before they went to their own rooms. Smiling to myself, I was glad that I now had a chance at a romance like that.

**Now, I know that I had them get together pretty quickly. I did that because I personally am not the biggest fan of stories that take them forever to get together. Hopefully, at least some of you are on the same page as me. Plus, I wanted more of the drama to happen while they were dating than while they were unsure of their feelings.**

**Anyway, thanks to all reviewed last chapter (I'm in a hurry so I can't write all of the names).**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday, I was barely home to even check my computer.**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

"Hey," I heard a voice say from my doorway as I threw on a blue button-up shirt. Normally, I would not be wearing a shirt like that, but Annabeth and I were going on a date to some nice restaurant out of town. We'd been dating for two weeks and things were incredible. Turning around, I found Nico leaning against the wall, "I came by to give you a report," he looked at my unusually nice clothes, "What has Rachel done to you?"

"Haha," I remarked sarcastically as I closed the last button. I figured that if I let the gang think that I was still dating Rachel they would be less likely to find out about Annabeth, "What do you have to report?"

He seemed much less enthusiastic about the topic at hand than teasing me, "We may be finally starting to get a handle on Aegis. All we need is one huge blow and we might be able to take them down once and for all." A couple weeks ago, I would've been jumping up and down with excitement at this news. Everything was different now though.

As I quickly combed my hair, Nico noticed my glum mood.

"Dude," he said, "You should be happy. If this goes over well, we might get enough money that you won't have to be in the gang anymore. You'll be able to have a regular life again and possibly get a real job. What's wrong with you?"

"Honestly, I don't even know anymore."

With that, he left me to worry over what this 'huge blow' could mean. If it meant killing Annabeth, I wouldn't be able to take it. If it meant killing one of her family members, she would never forgive me. All I could do was pray that neither of those would be our next, and possibly final, move.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

Driving up some abandoned street, I pulled to the curb for Annabeth to jump in my Prius. Even though she looked annoyed with me for being late, she was still beautiful. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, but a few loose strands hung in her face. She was wearing a gray blouse and skinny jeans along with a set of owl earrings which I had never really noticed before.

"You're late," she commented angrily with a slam of the car door. When will girls ever realize that guys aren't good with being on time?

I decided to take the apology route, "I'm sorry. I got stuck in a lot of traffic." Okay, I lied. Truthfully, I'd spent the last half an hour thinking over what Nico had said. I probably should've warned her, but I just wanted to get away from our gang lives for one night.

"It's okay," she sighed, "I just worry about you a lot. For all I knew, my friends could've been beating you like a piñata."

We got to the restaurant right before they handed away our reservation. Our waiter was totally checking Annabeth out, and I wanted nothing more than to punch his face in. It was evident that Annabeth was on the same page as me because her eyes narrowed whenever he returned. When he came to take our drink our orders, he made a fatal mistake. While Annabeth was glaring straight at him, his eyes lingered on her chest for a good five seconds.

Before I could even react, Annabeth snapped. Slamming her menu in his face, she growled, "I'll have a coke and a new waiter."

The guy was so scared I thought he was going to piss himself. He scurried away to the kitchen, desperate to avoid her still burning glare. I was glad to know that Annabeth was strictly devoting herself to me, and she wasn't even going to deal with a flirty waiter. We got a different waiter which helped the rest of dinner go perfectly. Annabeth and I told each other stories of our past all the way to events that happened a week ago. I usually hate talking, but she made it so easy.

When I reached for the bill, she batted my hand away, "I'm paying."

I rolled my eyes, "Can't you let me be a gentleman and pay the damn bill?"

She shook her head, "I'm paying the bill because you're going to pay our admission into a teen club up the street."

Since I figured I wasn't going to get a much better deal, I agreed. We left a tip and headed to the club she had mentioned. The second we entered the place, we were automatically engulfed into the spinning and dancing around us. Even though it squashed down on my masculinity a bit, I let Annabeth lead so I wouldn't make fools of us. She didn't say anything, but I could tell that she was glad that I was giving her some leadership. After a while, I caught sight of a karaoke machine set up on a stage.

"Do you sing?" I asked her over the blasting music.

She shrugged, "I can, but I usually don't." That was a good enough answer for me. Dragging her on stage, we searched for a song. At the same time, we both selected Bring Me to Life by Evanescence. People in the crowd quieted down when the music started. Annabeth and I faced them, but when her voice came out, I froze in awe.

(_Annabeth_, _**Percy**_)

_How can you see into my eyes like open doors?  
Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb  
Without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold  
Until you find it there and lead it back home_

_**Wake me up**__  
Wake me up inside  
__**I can't wake up**__  
Wake me up inside  
__**Save me**__  
Call my name and save me from the dark  
__**  
Wake me up**__  
Bid my blood to run  
__**I can't wake up**__  
Before I come undone  
__**Save me**__  
Save me from the nothing I've become_

Now that I know what I'm without  
You can't just leave me  
Breathe into me and make me real  
Bring me to life

_**Wake me up**__  
Wake me up inside  
__**I can't wake up**__  
Wake me up inside  
__**Save me**__  
Call my name and save me from the dark_

_**Wake me up**__  
Bid my blood to run  
__**I can't wake up**__  
Before I come undone  
__**Save me**__  
Save me from the nothing I've become_

_**I've been living a lie  
There's nothing inside**__  
Bring me to life_

Frozen inside without your touch  
Without your love, darling  
Only you are the life among the dead

_**All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see  
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me  
**__I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems  
Got to open my eyes to everything_

_**Without thought, without voice, without a soul**__  
Don't let me die here  
__**There must be something more**__  
Bring me to life  
__**  
Wake me up**__  
Wake me up inside  
__**I can't wake up**__  
Wake me up inside  
__**Save me**__  
Call my name and save me from the dark_

_**Wake me up**__  
Bid my blood to run  
__**I can't wake up**__  
Before I come undone  
__**Save me**__  
Save me from the nothing I've become_

_**I've been living a lie  
There's nothing inside**__  
Bring me to life_

As the music faded out, I leaned over and kissed her and the crowd 'awwwed' in approval. Singing together had turned my totally sucky day with bad news from Nico and a perverted waiter into one of the happiest days of my life. Considering it's my life that doesn't say much, but it was still great.

**I know I usually like having a song they sing in a story, and hopefully I'm not the only. Since it's their first date I wrote about, I hope you all liked it. **

**Thanks to** CrystalLuna13, Alexandra Nightshade, atlchick313, DefyingPopular, wisegirl1333, I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares, HiThereSmiley, seaweed brain girl, BabyYou'reAllThatIWant


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****CrystalLuna13****, ****DefyingPopular****, ****Raidersforthewin****, ****HeartOnWings****, ****waterpoloplayer****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****XxXxLOVExXxX****, ****filmyfurry****, ****storyteller1425**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Percy and I were lying down together on the grass of our spot in park, watching the stars overhead. We had been dating for about a month and a half, but still no one knew. So far, we'd only even had one close call where we would've needed to fight each other. Both of us were pretty amazed, but at the same time we were waiting for it to blow up in our faces. Especially since Percy told me that Riptide was still planning one last blow on Aegis. Anyway, it was calm, yet I could tell that Percy was tense about something.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked. He wrapped his arms around me and I knew he was going to try and avoid my question, "Answer me."

He hesitated, "Well, you know how we agreed we weren't going to tell anyone about us dating?" I already knew what he was going to say next, but I nodded anyway. "I kind of told someone."

Shutting his eyes tight, he was expecting me to hit him for his stupidity. Not really wanting to do that, I tried staying as relaxed as I could, "Who did you tell?"

"My mom," compared to the number of people he could've told, I was glad he only told his mom. He continued, "She knows about you being in my rival gang and all that stuff, and she wants to meet you. It might've been the way I described you, but she thinks you sound like a great person."

Getting on board with the idea, I asked, "Can I meet her? It'll be nice to talk to someone who knows."

His face brightened up with joy over the fact that I was perfectly fine with who he told. Seconds later, he was flooring through the city to bring me to his apartment. Excitement was practically radiating from him. I guess he must really love his mom.

As we were going up the steps from the lobby, he gave me a quick briefing, "She's been really busy hanging out with her new boyfriend lately, but she still begged me to have you meet her. She told me to bring you by whenever."

We stormed through the front door to find Mrs. Jackson sitting calmly at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea. Even though it was late at night, she was still in a set of day clothes. She looked like a content, humble woman. I could tell that all of Percy's kind traits had to have come from his mother.

"Percy," she smiled at her son who went and gave her a quick hug, "Is this the girl you were telling me about?"

He nodded and gestured to me, "Mom, this is Annabeth Chase."

Before I could even let out a greeting, she came over and gave me a huge hug. Apparently, she's a very friendly person. I hugged her back, wondering why this woman liked me instantly. What could Percy have possibly told her?

I still hadn't gotten a chance to say a word to his mother when Percy's cell phone started blaring No More Sorrow by Linkin Park. He simply opened his phone and walked out, waving for us to continue without him. Yet I had caught one word that appeared on his phone's screen: Nico. Nico was apparently one of his gang members, so I knew him calling probably didn't mean anything good. Attempting to shrug off my worry, I turned back to Mrs. Jackson.

"So…" I began awkwardly, "Percy's told you about me?"

She chuckled lightly, but nodded, "Yeah, he's told me plenty of great things about you, yet I was still able to make my own assumption. Just by how much happier he looked than when he was with Rachel, I already wanted to know you. You may be in a gang, but I think your relationship might be your ticket out."

I had no idea what she meant, but Percy came back hurriedly into the room before I left.

"We have to go," he ordered as he dragged me through the front door. I felt bad that I hadn't even been able to say a quick goodbye to his mom.

"What's going on?" I demanded on our way down the stairs.

Once we got outside, he hugged me before explaining, "Our gangs are in a huge brawl not too far from here. I think your family is home though, so go join them. This fight is getting bad for Riptide so I have to go. You need to go home."

I glared at him, "I don't know what you're talking about; I'm fighting."

"Please just go," he was begging now, "If you come too, I can guarantee we'll have to fight. And if things really are as bad as Nico says they are; one of us is going to have to kill the other. I can't stand fighting you now I…I-"

"What?"

"I love you," he pulled me in and kissed me. It was quick before he ran down the street.

As he was running, I called after him, "I love you too." Even though he was now out of sight, I knew he heard. It wasn't how I pictured our first time saying I love you, but what else should I expect with all the gang interference.

Once I got home, I scurried straight to my room. As much as I wanted to tell Thalia and Luke about the fight, they would've had me go which I couldn't. Loving Percy was hard in a different way than I thought it would've been. I thought it would've been harder to keep it a secret, but instead it's most difficult not to kill each other. I was already feeling guilty about not helping the fight. Things only got worse when we got the call ten minutes later. The second I heard the phone ring I dashed right into the living room.

Thalia picked up the phone, "Hello?" She kept face her completely impassive until she hung up the phone. Then she punched the couch with so much force it shook and nearly tipped over, "Damnit!"

"What's wrong? Who called?" Luke asked pulling her into a hug, hoping to calm her.

Instead of looking up to face him, she stared me right in my eyes, "Malcolm's dead."

If I hadn't listened to that stupid Seaweed Brain I'm in love with, I could've saved him. I felt just as guilty as the person who killed him should. For one of the few times in my life, I broke down crying. My family came and took me in their arms, but all I wanted to do was escape the world. For all I knew, my boyfriend just killed my half-brother.

**I know this is really starting to sound like West Side Story, but I planned this part out before I read a summary for West Side Story online. Since I'm not sure if I should say it: I don't own West Side Story either. Anyway, I hope you all loved the chapter.**

**Oh and one reviewer asked me how old Percy and Annabeth are. I put them as juniors in high school, so they are like sixteen or seventeen. So thank you ****filmyfurry** **for bringing that up.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I still do not own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

I'm officially the worst boyfriend ever. I basically convinced Annabeth not to defend her friends, and then I went and helped my gang kill her half-brother. I wasn't the one who killed him, but it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't joined my gang in the fight. I was so worried about someone in my gang getting killed; I hadn't considered the fact that she was probably just as worried.

The next day I went to school with my sword, ready to present my project with Luke. We had made arrangements to present in the gym, so we had more room to fight. People were gossiping about the drama our fight would cause. The Stoll brothers had a bet going on who would win, but they called it off for some reason. That was the first sign that things were wrong because of Malcolm's death. Next, I noticed Thalia moved into our history class. She probably just ditched her class to be near Annabeth. That was supposed to be my job. _I_ was supposed to be comforting her, but I caused her pain instead.

Even when the teacher told us to begin, Luke continued shooting death glares at me. I took a deep breath and began, "Unlike warfare of today consisting of guns, bombs, and other technological weapons, certain Greek warriors used to go into battle with nothing but a sword," I lifted mine in the air, "and some armor." Luke and I each put on a breastplate and a helmet.

Luke stepped forward to complete our intro, "Not all men used swords though. Some used spears, clubs, bow and arrows, and many carried shields as well. Today, we'll be doing a demo swordfight."

We both got into fighting stances opposite each other in the middle of the gym. I waited for him to make the first move and he struck toward my chest. Blocking, I then slashed toward his shoulder. He managed to grab my wrist and try to disarm me. Before he could, I kicked him back, but he caught himself from falling over. Now he was mad, and he came at me like a tornado. He didn't give me a second strike. All I could do was dodge and block. I was able to get back into my fighting stance but he made me drop a knee with an uppercut to the leg.

What the hell? We weren't supposed to be actually harming each other. He brought his sword down on my shoulder, but I caught his blade on mine and held him in check. Standing up, I tried to push him back, yet he didn't budge at all. Shoving against his own sword, I fell back to the ground. As he walked to me, I wasn't totally sure he would spare me. When he towered over me, I punched him in the face. His nose stemmed blood and he kicked me in the ribs. Both of us dropped our swords and began pounding each other with our fists.

Teachers tried to break it up, but it was no use. Other members of our gangs joined in and, pretty soon, it was an all-out brawl. Even Rachel stood up for me against Thalia. Of course, Rachel lost with a black eye though, but it was nice to see her help. Luke was about to lunge for me when Annabeth came and gestured for him to go beat up someone else. I mouthed a quick thank you and turned to leave, but she dragged me back by my armor.

With a shiver I realized her eyes were rimmed red from crying, "What happened?"

She drew back her hand and punched me in the throat. While I gasped for air like a fish out of water, she loomed over me, "You kept me from helping my gang and then KILLED MY HALF-BROTHER!"

I'd seen her angry before, but now I desperately wanted to run for the hills, "I'm sorry," I attempted to apologize. That earned me a kick to my shoulder, "I wasn't the one who killed him and there was nothing I could do. If I had known he would've needed your help I would've had you go. It was a mistake! I'm sorry!" The brawl around us covered my shouting.

After checking to make sure no one was looking, she bent down and hugged me, "I'm glad you didn't do it. I don't think I can stand hating you anymore. And I don't want our gangs to come between us." There was conflict in her expression, as if she still wanted to be mad at me. Still no one noticed as she wiped single tear from her cheek and started beating up some guy behind her.

Returning to the fight, I managed to find Grover protecting Juniper. He isn't very brave unless Juniper's in danger. Before I could even speak to him though, Thalia came in and slide-tackled them. I knew Annabeth would kill me if I hurt her, but I was certainly not going to let her get away with that. With a yell, I tackled her to the cold wood floor. Not missing beat, she socked me in my collarbone to get me off. I went to stomp on her leg, but she swiftly rolled aside. In a split second she was back on her feet with her fist flying into my gut.

As she pulled her hand back away from my stomach, I snatched her hand and felt her index, middle, and ring finger break under my crushing grasp. Now extremely pissed off, she slammed my head into the nearest stone wall. Through my foggy vision, I saw her get right in my face.

"One day I'm gonna make you pay for all of this," she warned before backhanding me across the face and walking away. Seconds later, I blacked out.

When I finally came around it was about sunset and the first thing I realized was that I was lying in grass. Not on the wood floor of the gym, not a bed in the nurse's office, my room, or a hospital, but I was simply lying in grass.

"Thank god you're awake," I felt gentle arms that I knew belonged to Annabeth wrap around me.

Shaking my head a little bit, I sat up, "What happened?"

Opening my eyes, I found myself in our spot of the park. The sunset was dimly lighting the sky and it couldn't have been a better view. Especially since Annabeth's face was in my line of vision. Wow, did I really just say that? I'm getting to be such a softie lately.

"They tried to bring you to a hospital since you weren't waking up. I know how much you hate hospitals, so I snuck you out and brought you here."

"Thanks," I said, propping myself up on my elbows, "You do know that Thalia and Luke are to thank for this."

She nodded though she seemed apologetic, "I know and I'm sorry. I hate not being able to tell them, but I…I just can't."

Hoping to comfort her, I ignored my skull-splitting headache and wrapped my arms around her, "I love you."

**I'm sorry I didn't get to post yesterday, but my Fanfiction account wasn't working properly and wouldn't let me upload this chapter. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope I can post the next chapter tomorrow.**

**Thanks to all reviewed last chapter: ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****CrystalLuna13****, ****DefyingPopular****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****XxXxLOVExXxX****, ****filmyfurry****, ****storyteller1425****, ****wisegirl1333****, ****seaweed brain girl**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I apologize, but I am once again in a hurry so I am not able to post all the names.**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

It was another month from the brawl in the gym until anything really happened again. Except for when Percy fell out of a tree we were relaxing on, but that was just funny. We'd been dating for about three months, yet we were already pretty damn serious about each other. Odd, I know, but some people just fall in love quicker I guess. Anyway, Percy and I had gone out to lunch earlier and I told him I should go spend some time with my gang. Especially since Malcolm's death, we had been parting a bit. I'm not talking about my family, I mean the other gang members.

We had agreed to go head out to dinner at a local diner, and it was nice to see us all gathered again. Connor and Travis were annoying the people at the table across from us, Katie was trying to shut them up, Will was singing along with the eighties music from the speakers, Jake was making a paper crane out of a napkin, and Pollux was quietly sipping his soda.

Once she gave up on the Stoll brothers, Katie turned to me, "So, why'd you gather us?"

I sighed, "Because we've all been drifting since Malcolm's death. I miss you guys, and it's nice to see you not fighting Riptide for once."

They all looked exceedingly confused, but Connor stopped torturing the other people and spoke up, "Annabeth, you're the only one we haven't been seeing much of. We went to a movie like two nights ago and Thalia and Luke came with us to play football in the park the other day."

Will stepped in here, "Yeah, where have you been lately?"

"Just a little busy I guess," I lied. I had been spending so much time with Percy that I hadn't even noticed I was separating from the gang. They'd been hanging out, and I didn't have any idea. As much as I loved Percy, I felt like I was abandoning them. If only they could know.

Jake rubbed my back gently, "We understand. Malcolm's death affected all of us, but you guys even shared some blood. That must be rough." They thought this was about Malcolm? Yeah, his death bothered me, but I got over it pretty quick. He was technically my brother, but we were never very close. It seemed like the more loyal I got to Percy, the less loyal I was to my gang.

After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Pollux broke it, "So, where are Thalia and Luke anyway?"

Travis was now focused too, "They were gonna do a sweep through Riptide's part of town. It's getting a little late though, so they probably just went back to their apartment."

Everyone kept on talking, but I was having a raging war in my mind. It was Percy or the gang. Because if Aegis knew, he'd be a dead man. Usually, I can think of almost any way out of something, yet I was just stuck. The only thing I could do was see how much longer Percy and I could keep this up.

We had all left the diner around eleven, and we were originally going to go play manhunt in the park. That wasn't going to happen though, because lightning crackled through the sky and rain pounded on the roads. I said goodbye to all of them and hurried home to get out of this dreadful weather.

Crashing through the apartment door, I threw my soaking wet jacket on the coat rack. Turning back, I entered the most disturbing moment of life. Thalia, who didn't seem to notice my entry, was coming out of Luke's room. She was wearing Luke's old football sweatshirt that went down to her mid-thigh. But that was all she was wearing.

Realization hitting me, I shrieked, "HOLY MOTHER FU-"

Somehow, she'd gotten to me really quickly and clamped her hand over my mouth, "Would you stop screaming?" She sounded angry, but she looked pretty freaked by me catching them, "I don't want Luke to know you caught us."

I nodded with eyes still wide from shock. The idea of my two best friends doing it was kind of unsettling to me. That may sound immature, but I totally wasn't expecting to come home to this. She removed her hand and I choked, "Could you please go change at least?"

While I stood frozen in place, she scurried off to her room. She came back out in gray sweatpants and a black _Anberlin _t-shirt, muttering something to herself that sounded like "Wasn't she not supposed to be back until midnight?"

To prove I heard her, I muttered, "It's thunder storming."

Only seeming to realize the crappy weather now, she face-palmed, "I'm so stupid."

"You can say that again," I told her and finally found the will to move forward, "Now, why did you do it with him?"

For a second, she looked like she wanted to be angry. Instead, she huffed in defeat, "Well, we've only been dating for like four months now, but it's felt like longer since we were still really close before that. We were practically in love when we started technically dating anyway, so I don't find it that weird. Plus, before we did it we were talking and-"

"Please," I begged her, "I don't think my stomach can handle the details."

She rolled her eyes, "I wasn't going to give you them. Anyway, we both agreed that we never want to be with anyone else and that we could never think as each other as some one night stand."

"Can I go to bed now?" by that point, I was trying anything to get out of there.

"Not yet. Can I give you a word of advice?" Even though I really, really didn't want to, I nodded. "Thanks. I'm not going to lecture you on how you shouldn't do it until you're married. Because first of all, that's total bullshit. Second, that would be extremely hypocritical." Thalia had always played a mother/big sister role in my life, but getting the sex talk from her wasn't exactly on my bucket list.

"No kidding," I commented sarcastically.

She shot me an annoyed look before continuing, "I made sure Luke wouldn't leave and that I totally loved him before we did it. If you ever plan on doing it, I suggest you do the same. It sounds stupid, but it really would make you less likely for heartbreak. Just make sure he's faithful."

I gulped, "Is that all?"

"Yeah. And don't tell Luke you know. He wanted to keep it a secret."

Heading back to my room, I still felt slightly ill. As I went to sleep, I wondered if I could ever picture Percy and I doing it (not in a perverted way). Not while we were still in gangs I couldn't.

**I'm a pretty serious Catholic so I don't believe in sex before marriage, but since a lot of people do I figured it was okay for the story. Anyway, I found this chapter fun/funny to write and I hope you all enjoyed it.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Fair warning about this chapter: I know NOTHING about skateboarding, so I looked up the terms for Percy and Tyson's tricks online. It was mentioned that they were into skateboarding in the Sea of Monsters, so I wanted to put in. Hopefully if any of you out there are skaters, I didn't mess up horribly.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****filmyfurry****, ****storyteller1425****, ****wisegirl1333****, ****seaweed brain girl****, ****TatianaBieber****, ****so unnatral****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****atlchick313****, ****AchilliesOfGreece SILENTWALRUS****, ****alidei**

**Yet again, I still do not own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

Annabeth wanted to hang out with her gang for the night, so I decided to go to the skate park with my half-brother Tyson. Both of us used to do this all the time together but we'd been drifting apart a bit lately. It was probably obvious I hadn't been on one lately because I completely missed the landing on my board when I tried to do a double kickflip. And by completely miss, I mean I landed a good yard away. I have no idea how I pulled off that failure. Tyson could still easily do a fakie hardflip though, making me feel pretty stupid.

"I've missed you," he told me as me stopped for a water break.

I clapped him on the back and assured him, "I have too Big Guy. I've just been really busy lately."

He nodded, "Is it because of the pretty girl?"

Even though I knew he meant Rachel, I replied, "Yes Tyson. It's because of a very pretty girl." Go ahead, make fun of me.

Taking a sip of his water, he sat next to me, "I still miss you though. Maybe next week we can go swimming or ride ponies or get peanut butter sandwiches or-"

"I get it. Hopefully, we will get time to do all that."

I'm usually very patient with his excited attitude, but I didn't want to think about how much he wanted me around. It only made me feel guilty because I truthfully would've rather spent time with Annabeth. Tyson didn't seem to notice that I was bothered at all.

I sighed, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you think I'm doing a good job with Riptide? Do you think I'm still helpful even though I'm barely around?"

"You're a good leader. Why else would you have been picked? I just wish you were around more, but it's okay. You're happy now, unlike you used to be."

Thanking him for his help, I went back to attempting to skate. I remembered how bitter I used to be before I liked Annabeth. The only people I liked were Tyson, Nico, Grover, Juniper, and Rachel. The main reason I had started dating Rachel was because I was hoping it would make me happier. It didn't do anything though. It didn't upset me either; it just didn't do what I thought it would. Annabeth made my life better though.

I managed to pull off a simple grind on a rail when I saw Clarisse walk into the skate park with her boyfriend Chris. Since I knew they must've come for me, I skated up to them and Tyson followed suit. Clarisse seemed oddly pleased which offset me even more.

"What do you want?" I growled at her.

Her smile only got bigger, "I've come to give you fair warning. First you have to send away the Hulk though," she pointed at Tyson who was now glaring at her.

I rolled my eyes, "Tyson, please go. It's the only way we'll get her to leave."

He left though he wasn't pleased in doing so.

"Okay," I told her, "He's gone. So what do you want? My lunch money?"

She laughed, "You're so full of it, Jackson. I'm going to get straight to the point: I know you're dating that Annabeth Chase girl."

Even though I failed miserably at it, I tried to act like I didn't know anything, "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she snapped. "I may not be as smart as your little girlfriend, but I'm not that ignorant. You two used to be at almost every gang fight, yet one day you both begin randomly disappearing. Eventually I was able to put two and two together to figure out that something was up, so Chris and I scoped you two out. We were in the teen club that night and saw you two kiss. Do you have any possible argument for this?"

Crap, she had way too much evidence. What I couldn't figure out is why she would wait so long to do anything.

"Look," I began, but ended up unable to form a sentence, "I…we're kind of…um-"

"Did you really think you could get away with this?" she challenged.

"I'm in love with her," I confessed and got right in her face. "And what are you going to do about it?"

She glared at me with so much hate, I thought she'd explode, "If you don't do what I ask, I'll kill her."

"You wouldn't," I challenged.

"We both know I would."

That caused something in me to snap. Clarisse thought she could just get away with anything because I was afraid of starting a civil war amongst Riptide. But by this point I really didn't care. If she thought I would let her get away with harming Annabeth, she was dead wrong.

Letting my anger loose, I threw a punch at her jaw. She stumbled back in shock, but Chris rose to her defense. I usually get along with him pretty well, yet he would always stand with Clarisse. He tried to kick me in the face, but I grabbed his leg and flipped him to the ground. Lately I'd been getting my butt kicked in fights, so this was great. Spinning back to Clarisse, I knocked her legs out from under her with a leg sweep just before she could land a punch to my gut. Chris got his hand around my throat, but I dropped him with a solid punch to the eye.

Clarisse charged me once again and I got her in a headlock before she could hit me, "You aren't going anywhere near her."

She managed her way out of my headlock, but didn't attack again, "I will if you don't cooperate."

It took all of my will power not to attack her again, "What the hell do you even want from me?"

"Luke Castellan is becoming a big issue for Riptide. He's a main reason we haven't destroyed them yet. Considering I have a lot I can use against you now, I figured you would do my dirty work for me and kill him. Especially because if I decide not to kill your girlfriend myself, word might 'accidently' spread and she could be killed anyway."

With that, she left and Chris followed close behind her. Tyson returned to my side, but I only said a quick goodbye before skating off down the street. Originally, I planned on going to talk to Annabeth about this. Then I actually thought about how that conversation would go: _Hey Annabeth. Clarisse knows about us and is threatening you unless I kill Luke, the guy who's like a brother to you. Did I mention I beat her up and probably only ticked her off more? You know I love you, right?_

If she didn't kill me, I'd kill myself for coming up with that bad of a topic. So, I went to the only other person I could think of.

It had begun to downpour as I reached Rachel's house. "I need to talk to you," I told her the second she opened her front door.

She led me into her living room and I spilled _everything_. All the way from when I kissed Annabeth to what Clarisse just told me. She was the second person I had told, while Annabeth had still kept her promise and not told anyone. I felt slightly guilty about that. Rachel kind of had a right to know though since I had cheated on her. Plus, I needed someone else to talk to.

"You're mad, aren't you?" I asked once I finished the story.

She bit her lip, "I want to be. A part of me just wants to scream and bitch-slap you, but what would that do for me? It's not like you have much control over your emotions. And I can't honestly say I didn't see it coming. Besides, being mad just isn't worth it."

"I'm really sorry," I apologized. Usually, I'm not great with apologies, but I hated the idea of cheating on my girlfriend. I would not want to end up as the next Tiger Woods, "But I need your help. Any advice at all would be nice."

"Do you really love Annabeth?"

I sighed, "Yes, more than anything. I don't want her to be hurt, but I don't think I can kill somebody. Especially somebody so close to her."

She placed her hand comfortingly on my arm, "Honestly, I don't know what you should do. Clarisse can be unpredictable and things change so quickly between Riptide and Aegis. My best advice would be to not act irrationally in your situation."

"Thanks," I gave her a friendly hug and left.

As I made my way down the street, I still had a war raging in my head.

**Alright, I know Clarisse is being a bitch. I decided to make her a bit OOC and a problem instead of Luke or Rachel like in a lot of stories. Also, Rachel may have been a little too okay with Percy cheating on her, but I couldn't picture her mad without being totally OOC. Hopefully, you all liked this chapter though. I had trouble writing Tyson's character, but I don't **_**think**_** I butchered it **_**too**_** bad.**

**For next chapter I think I'm going to make it another date between Annabeth and Percy, but I have MAJOR writer's block so the next chapter might take a few days. I apologize, but my computer's been having issues as well. I hope to at least post the next chapter by the end of the week. Sorry. **


	15. Chapter 15

**I BEAT MY WRITER'S BLOCK! The idea for their date just kind of came to me while I was in my pool (it was freezing, but it's getting closed soon so I wanted to go in). Anyway, this chapter is kind of short and unedited since I just got over writer's block, so please bear with me. **

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter:****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****filmyfurry****, ****storyteller1425****, ****TatianaBieber****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****PJO-Fan-Of-The-Year****, ****tay-tay22****, ****annabethchase999****, ****Ivanova-2010**

**I do not own PJO, Burger King, or Hot Topic.**

**Annabeth POV**

Percy and I were sitting together in his apartment, watching some dumb movie that both of us had lost interest in a half an hour earlier. The only thing that was probably keeping us there was that he was comfy on the couch and I was snuggled into his chest. Neither of us really wanted to move, but this movie was only getting more and more boring. The stupid cable company was fixing the other channels though, so we couldn't watch anything else.

"Can we please stop watching this?" I finally pleaded.

He picked up the remote off the coffee table and shut off the TV, "Alright. What are we going to do now though?"

"Why don't we go out? I heard they redid a mall not too far from town. It's supposedly a beautiful new structure," I stated, beginning to ramble about architecture. "I think they used-"

Placing his index finger to my lip to quiet me, he told me, "Please don't start talking about architecture. Because I won't understand what you're saying and then I'll feel bad because I'll only be pretending to listen."

I rolled my eyes, "Let's just go out."

He seemed to get really nervous, "Are you sure we should go out in public? What if someone sees us?"

Giving him a puzzled look, I quipped, "We've gone out before. Since when did you start worrying so much?"

Though he still looked nervous, he got up and shrugged, "You never know who's watching."

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Considering I spent the entire car ride trying to figure out what was up with him, it was pretty quiet. The only noise from within the car was Shattered (Turn the Car Around) by O.A.R. flowing softly from the speakers. When we got to the mall, I snapped myself out of my thinking and tried to perk back up. Don't worry, I won't bore you with the amazing details of the building even though I kind of want to.

"Where to first?" Percy asked, attempting to break the awkward tension he created earlier.

"Let's go to the food court," I told him.

He was about to protest when his stomach growled. He lowered his head, "Let's go."

I got some food from a surprisingly great Chinese food place. Percy just got some fries and soda from Burger King. The entire time we were eating he kept up conversation, but he was continuously glancing around as if he was looking for somebody.

As I picked at my last few pieces of orange chicken, his eyes widened, "Nico."

"What?" I asked. He pointed and I turned to see him walking out of Hot Topic and into the food court. Even though he hadn't noticed us, I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. "Just don't do anything to draw attention to us."

Percy did the complete opposite though. Panicking, he grabbed my wrist and quickly dragged me out of the food court. He just kept running even after we were a good thirty yards away from the food court. Once we practically reached the other end of the mall, he finally stopped.

I regained my breath and yelled at him, "What is wrong with you today?"

He put his head in his hands, "I have no idea," he growled angrily. "I'm sorry, I just don't even know what's wrong anymore and we can't have anyone else find out about us."

My eyes narrowed in thought, but he didn't notice. The only person who knew was his mom, but he made it sound like someone else knew. Normally I would've called him out on it and began interrogation, yet he was so confused I let him be.

Instead, I tried for a more joking approach, "Well, I don't want to waste my night with a sour puss. We're away from Nico now, so if you don't cheer up I'll make you go and hug the creepy guy in an Elmo suit outside that children's photo place." It was lame threat, but one that I would definitely keep my word on.

He knew what I was talking about. When we walked in by one of those children's photo studios, some gross middle-aged guy was putting on an Elmo suit to attract customers. I doubt that was working well.

He smiled, "I'd rather cheer up different way."

"What are talking abo-" he cut me off by crushing his lips against mine. He put his hands on my waist and pulled me in closer. I could practically feel the dirty looks from parents around us, but I really did not care one bit. His tension seemed to go away a bit after we kissed as well.

"You're so cheesy," I told him.

He shrugged, "I got to kiss you, didn't I?"

I laughed and we walked off into the mall. The rest of the night we were wandering aimlessly through the mall with his arm around my shoulders and mine around my waist. We were a typical couple for the time being.

**}{}{}{}{}{}{**

I made it back to the apartment around midnight to find Luke working out in our living room. He was doing push-ups, but he collapsed to the floor in surprise when I walked.

He picked his head up from the ground, "I thought you were already asleep."

"I guess you thought wrong then," I replied and tossed my keys on the counter, "Where's Thalia?"

He made his way into the kitchen and came back out with a half-filled water bottle, "She went to bed already. She was really tired."

"Okay," I said and headed toward my room. Just before I went in, I turned back, "Can I ask you something?"

Walking to me, he nodded, "Sure."

"If Thalia wasn't telling you about something that was bothering her and you wanted to help, what would you do?" In case you couldn't figure it out, I was secretly asking him for relationship advice about Percy. Even though we ended up having fun at the mall, I still couldn't help but worry.

Luke got panicky, "Why? What isn't she telling me?"

I chuckled, "I was speaking hypothetically, Smarty."

"Oh," he thought for a minute. "I would probably leave her to tell me on her own, but I would do little things to show I'm there for her."

Thank god Luke was too clueless to question me on why I was asking.

"Thanks," I said and hugged him. He was kind of sweaty from working out, but I didn't really mind.

"No prob," after a few seconds of hugging me like that, he added, "I love you, kiddo."

"I love you too."

And once again for any of you who may not have caught on, I love him like a brother. I'm not cheating on Percy, so relax. And for those of you who didn't jump to that conclusion, thank you. Now I would just have to wait for Percy to come to me. If he ever would.

**I hope you all loved the chapter. Annabeth's last little rant there was kind of a subtle joke about extreme shippers who freak when their rival shipping appears even slightly. Anyway, please review. They actually often help inspire my chapters, even if that sounds a little corny.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter:****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****filmyfurry****, ****storyteller1425****, ****TatianaBieber****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****wisegirl1333****, ****so unnatral****, ****Ayemjayis****, ****Lord Zill****, ****annabethchase999****, ****mysterygirl123****, ****lovemeforever04**

Annabeth wasn't answering her phone the night after we went to the mall, so I decided to hang out with Nico, Grover, and Juniper. We were roaming through town and talking about what had been going on lately. I didn't say much because I had to keep most of what had been going on with me a secret. I had been starting to wish I told Annabeth about Clarisse, but I couldn't get in touch with her.

"So how has your relationship been going?" I asked Juniper and Grover.

Grover shrugged, "I couldn't be happier, but I won't speak for her."

She smiled, "Don't worry, I agree."

"And what about you?" Nico asked me, "Any trouble in paradise?"

For a second I forgot that they all still thought I was dating Rachel. I cleared my throat, "Um…we broke up actually."

He clapped me on the shoulder, "Dude, that sucks."

I ignored his comment, "It was for the best."

"All I know is that I wouldn't go through girlfriends nearly as fast as you do," he told me.

"I only had one other one," I snapped, but then laughed when I realized he was kidding. I had one other girlfriend named Calypso when I was in eighth grade. It was very serious and only lasted like two weeks though. When I told Annabeth about her though, she still got a little jealous.

We wandered like that for a while longer until Grover's ringtone, The Kids Aren't Alright by the Offspring, went off.

He fished his phone out of his pocket, and said, "Hey Tyson. What's up?"

I couldn't hear what Tyson was saying on the other end, but eventually Grover told him, "Don't worry, we'll be right there."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Start running toward the park," he told us and while we ran, he explained, "Clarisse brought a lot of the gang with her and is picking a fight with pretty much all of Aegis. It looks like she's trying to start the biggest fight yet."

Instantly, I picked up so much speed none of them could keep up with me. I was still worrying like a crazy person when I reached the park. Ironically, the fight seemed like it was going to break out in mine and Annabeth's place. There didn't seem to be a single person from the gangs missing. I joined Riptide's side with Clarisse, but I spotted Annabeth fronting her gang with Luke and Thalia. Clarisse was yelling like a mad person while the lead Aegis trio only seemed to be getting angrier and angrier with her. This definitely wasn't going to end well.

I found Tyson in the crowd and ran up to him, "Tyson, what's going on?"

He looked down at me, "Clarisse got the other people mad. She said something about being on ground that's not theirs."

"Thanks Big Guy," I told him and made my way closer toward Clarisse.

"You and your trashy friends better get out of the park before we beat your asses out!"Clarisse threatened.

Annabeth simply rolled her eyes though, "You don't own the damn park Clarisse."

"But we both know having both gangs here will spiral into a fight anyway." For once, Clarisse actually had a good point. She was up to something though, I knew it.

"Bring it on then," Luke challenged and stepped forward. This was such a dumb thing to fight over though. It must've just been the fact that we were enemy gangs that actually was causing this fight.

Of course, Clarisse took his challenge and drew her knife. With that, both gangs broke out in a fight. Going on alert, I drew my knife. The first people to charge me were the Stoll brothers. While one distracted me, the other came at me from behind. Without turning around, I kicked back and hit the one behind me right in the face. He hadn't been expecting it one bit and dropped to the ground unconscious. The one in front of me struck toward my gut with his knife, but I parried and struck toward his head. He had to move so fast to dodge he fell over. I kicked him in the side quick before moving on.

Running to try and find either Annabeth or Clarisse, I punched out a couple people on the way. Finally I found them. I wish I hadn't though. Clarisse had herself, Chris, and three other of her goons attacking Annabeth. She was holding her own, but I didn't know how much longer she could last against five people. Before I could reach her, two other people stepped I my path. I wasn't sure exactly who they were but from what Annabeth has told me about the people in her gang I assumed they were Pollux and Katie Gardner.

Pollux kicked toward my head and Katie threw a punch at my gut. I avoided the kick yet still got the fist to my stomach. They came at me in unison again and I was prepared this time. I ducked under both of their attacks and came up and shoved Pollux over. I stomped on his leg before Katie tackled me to the ground. I whipped my knife back out though and cut her leg. That got her off. It all took too long though. When I turned back toward Annabeth, things were not at all going well.

She only had Chris and Clarisse left, but I could tell she was tired out. Chris pressed her back, yet she managed to clip his cheek with her knife though. While that happened though, Clarisse had come up behind Annabeth. Clarisse caught had her knife to Annabeth's throat before she could turn. Annabeth struggled against her grasp, but if she tried any harder she cut her neck open.

Clarisse looked me dead in the eye, "You know what I want, Jackson. If you don't do it, Princess here loses her head."

In that instant, I realized what had happened. Clarisse didn't give a crap about the park; she just set this fight up so I would kill Luke. I had different plans though. Readying my knife, I advanced toward them. Annabeth's eyes widened in disbelief as if she thought I'd harm her. Clarisse was shocked by the fact I was coming anywhere near her while she had something against me, so I went for her with knife.

It must've looked like I was going to kill Annabeth though.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Luke roared and lunged for me with his switchblade.

Out of instinct though, I turned with my knife pointed at him. Both of our blades were speeding right for each other's heart.

**PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR THE CLIFFY! But does Percy complete Clarisse's task? Or is he killed before he gets the chance? Or maybe I'll kill both of them off. And does Clarisse let Annabeth live? Anyway, I hoped you all liked the chapter despite the cliffy. I love cliffies though. Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Ayemjayis****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****biancadiangelo0703****, ****storyteller1425****, ****McIrishGirl****, ****atlchick313****, ****PercyJacksonBooklover****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****so unnatral****, ****AchilliesOfGreece SILENTWALRUS****, ****Lord Zill****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****annabethchase999****, ****tay-tay22****, ****Claire Ride****, ****...123****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****Bombshell9****, ****SoccerGirl8**

**I still don't and never will own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

Clarisse still had me held with her knife to my throat, but I probably screamed loud enough to deafen her when I saw Percy's knife sink into Luke's chest. The hit was so dead-on; there was no way he could survive. Clarisse simply laughed darkly and dropped me but not before giving me a huge gash on my shoulder. I started sprinting toward the two boys still not sure what I was doing. Before I could even say a word to Percy, Thalia flew in and tackled him. She punched him so hard in the face I heard his nose break.

Instead of continuing to beat him though, she simply got up and went to Luke's side. Riptide members were running from the area, not wanting to be blamed for the killing. Percy got up and could only stand in shock. His nose was gushing blood and swelling, but he didn't even react to it. I only glanced at Percy before dropping next to Thalia and looking at Luke's dying form.

"I-I…I didn't-I'm so-" Percy stuttered.

Nico came running up to him and pointed at Luke, "Did you kill him?"

Percy blinked a few times, trying to process what was going on, "Kind of. I just turned to defend myself and-"

By this point I could see his hands shaking in fear of what he'd done, of himself. He'd told me he'd never killed anyone before and that he didn't want to. I didn't have anything to say to him though. At the moment there was nothing to be said.

"We've got to get you out of here," Nico said and tried to drag him away. Sirens wailed in the distance.

Percy simply stood there though.

Thalia's low voice still came out terrifying and deadly. "I'd go with him unless you want to end up in a grave too," she threatened. She was so upset I didn't doubt that she would have Percy's head if he didn't listen.

He gave me an apologetic look before running off into the night with Nico.

I turned my attention to Luke who was barely breathing. I couldn't even force myself to look at the wound on his heart, so I focused on his face.

Luke of course picked the wrong time for a joke, "I guess I get to tell all the other spirits that I died in a stupid fight over a damn park." His skin was losing more of its color and his voice was strained.

Thalia hit him lightly, "You're dying and you make jokes about it?" She shook with the sobs she was holding in.

Tears were flowing silently down my face, "I'm going to miss you."

His blue eyes met my grey ones, "I'll miss you too. Can you do me a favor?"

I nodded.

"Get out of the gang while you can. Do something with your life instead of getting killed like me."

"I'll try," I told him and leaned down and kissed his cheek.

He looked at Thalia, "I'll always love you, but don't wait for me."

Instead of answering though, she kissed him. When she pulled away though, he wasn't Luke anymore. He was a corpse. I put my head on her shoulder and she rested her head on mine. Luke and I had been in this exact position all those years ago when Thalia was dying. She had pulled through though. By the time an ambulance got there he was long gone. EMT's flooded the area around us and were pulling him up onto a stretcher.

Thalia pulled away from me and her eyes widened, "Annabeth, you're hurt."

"What?" I asked.

She pointed toward my shoulder which had completely stained my shirt with blood. I had been so caught up in everything else I hadn't even noticed the sharp, stinging pain of it. Clarisse had gotten me with her knife worse than I had thought. As an EMT came to my aid, my eyes rolled back in my head and I blacked out. In my unconscious state, I dreamt of the first time Luke told me he loved me since I had joined him and Thalia.

_Thalia had been out to get food and Luke and I were lounging around in the apartment. He was about fifteen and I was about thirteen. Don't ask how we got an apartment at our ages, it's a long story. I had been really tired so I was sprawled across the couch trying to sleep. He came over and grabbed me up off the couch though._

"_Hey!" I protested._

_He chuckled, "You can sleep in your room. I want the couch to watch TV on though."_

"_Sit on the floor," I grumbled._

_Ignoring me, he brought me toward my room. Finally, he said, "You're getting a free ride to your room, I wouldn't complain."_

"_Who said I wanted to go to my room?" I pointed out._

_He grinned evilly, "Fine then." With that, he just put me down on the wood floor._

"_Not funny!" I yelled at him._

"_You made it seem like you didn't want to go to your room."_

_When he laughed I ran and jumped on his back in an attempt to tackle him. We probably looked like your typical arguing siblings. Not bothered by this at all, he just kept laughing while I was practically being piggy-backed. Finally, he grabbed me off his back and spun around so it was more like we were hugging._

"_You're so mean," I told him even though I didn't mean it very much._

_Once again he simply laughed, "You love me anyway."_

_I rolled my eyes, "If you keep doing that I won't."_

_It was clear he had been looking for something more along the lines of an 'I love you'. I guess he just didn't want to make my being loved by this family awkward, so he wanted me to say it first. It sounded like a relationship, but I didn't care._

_He gave in before me though, "I love you."_

_In that second of the dream though, everything had changed. Luke wasn't holding me and saying he loved me. It was Percy. I wasn't sure where we were, but in the background I could see our gangs. Riptide was further to the right and glaring at us while Aegis was to left, gathered around a coffin that must've been Luke's. I was my current age again and Percy's sea green eyes were beaming down on me. It was such a weird, drastic change in my dream._

_Luke and Percy were the two guys I loved in my life. One was my brother and the other is my boyfriend. Of course one had to kill the other. That's just my luck though. All the time I had been dreaming about them, I could've been dying in reality._

**This chapter may have been a bit corny, but someone died. What can you expect?**

**Happy? I didn't kill Percy even though I kind of wanted to since it would really make the story interesting. Annabeth is still at death risk though and Luke is completely gone. The dream at the end was something I came up with and I hoped you liked it. I was originally going to have Percy kill Luke and then Thalia kill Percy because of it, but I decided against it. Hopefully, this cliffy isn't torturous as the last one.**

**And before any single one of you complain that Percy is weak (like in many previous chapters) for getting his nose broken by Thalia, think again. Because A) A severely pissed off Thalia probably could do a lot worse and B) he had just beaten up like five other people and was a bit shocked. Anyway, now that you've finished reading my mini rant, please review! **


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****atlchick313****, ****wisegirl1333****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****LemonStickInsect****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****AchilliesOfGreece SILENTWALRUS****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****tay-tay22****, ****storyteller1425****, ****koil163****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****allieapollo****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****annabethchase999**

**And ****lovemeforever04****: I didn't mean for it to sound like they threw the knives. Sorry about that. Both of them were killing wielding them when Percy killed Luke. Since Luke died before his knife hit Percy, I the knife would've have either remained in his hand or fallen to the ground. Once again, I apologize for the confusion.**

**I still don't own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

I was still trembling in disbelief as Nico dragged me into Grover's car. I could barely pay any attention as they sped me away Nico's apartment. Without even meaning to, I had done what Clarisse wanted. I'd beat people, I'd stolen stuff, I had broken in places, I'd sold drugs, but I had never killed someone before. Quite frankly, I did not like the idea of being a murderer one bit. Not only that, but of course the person I killed was the girl I love's brother.

"Don't worry," Nico assured me as he brought me up the stairs in his building, "You're not eighteen yet, the worst thing that can happen is you're put in juvenile hall."

That wasn't exactly the assurance I had been hoping for.

"Hey guys," Nico's sister, Bianca, greeted us as we walked through the door. She noticed the look on my face and came over to us, "What happened?"

"That's a very long story," he told her. "Can you just keep him company while I try and sort things out?"

She nodded and brought me to sit next to her on a couch. She shuddered when she looked closely at my broken nose, "I'll get you some ice."

As she went off into the kitchen, my thoughts just kept floating about. I killed Luke and I had no idea how Annabeth was. Not to mention Thalia probably wanted me dead. My nose was killing and these bothersome thoughts were only making it worse. I didn't know what I was going to do though. I couldn't just leave my entire life behind to run from the cops. I was entirely considering turning myself in, but I figured that would just get me thrown in jail and I'd lose everything anyway.

Bianca returned and gave me an ice pack, "Do you need anything else?"

I shook my head, but after a minute or so of silence I said, "Actually, can I borrow your cell phone? I need to text someone, but I don't have mine with me." I accidentally left it in the park. I decided to leave out that little detail though.

She gave me it even though she was confused.

I looked to see if she had Rachel in her contacts and thank god she did. I sent her a quick message.

_Hey, it's Percy from Bianca's phone. Can you do me a really huge favor?_

There was a response within the next minute. Not even checking to see who the message was from, I opened it.

_Hey babe, I was hoping we could be alone tonight._

I looked at the sender of that message and it definitely wasn't Rachel. It was some guy named Mark.

"Who is this?" I asked her.

Bianca turned beet red, "Um…that's my boyfriend. Now get out of my messages and don't tell Nico. He'll try and be overprotective even though I'm older."

Trying to forget what I just read, I opened a new message that was actually from Rachel.

_-Sigh- What do you need now?_

I quickly replied.

_I just killed Luke and I'm hiding from the police. I think Annabeth's hurt and probably at the hospital. Can you please go check and see if she's okay?_

Last I had seen Annabeth she had a pretty bad gash on her shoulder from Clarisse. If she wasn't at the hospital for that, she probably would be for Luke anyway. Rachel didn't respond for like a half an hour. When it finally came, I opened it before it could even fully load the message.

_She's alright though she is still stuck in the hospital. I'd come here though._

I tossed Bianca her phone, "I've gotta go."

Before she could even ask about what was going on, I ran out the door. I nearly knocked Nico over on my way down the stairs, but I kept running. I had to go explain myself to Annabeth. As much as I didn't like the idea of her being injured in the hospital, I was kind of glad she wouldn't be able to kill me when I saw her. She probably wasn't happy with me and I couldn't really blame her. I wasn't even happy with myself.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice called from the alley next to the hospital. I was so close, but of course I got stopped. And I was stopped by the person who wanted to see me least at the moment: Thalia. She stepped out of the shadows with three other members of Aegis. Her eyes were rimmed red from crying, but she still looked deadly.

I couldn't even form a complete answer to that, "I was just…I'm-I"

She shook her head and stepped toward me, her glare getting stronger and stronger, "You're pathetic. You kill somebody and then get the nerve to show your face, yet you can't even speak."

"Fine," I told her, knowing what she wanted, "Hit me. I deserve it."

She didn't even think about the opportunity. She punched me hard in the gut and then shoved me roughly to the ground. Then she knelt next to me drew her knife. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she would kill me.

"Wait," I begged, "Before you kill me, you should know something."

She scoffed, "What could you possibly have to say that I'd care for one bit?"

"I've been dating Annabeth for a while now, and we're in love with each other." I kind of meant to spread that out, but it didn't really happen. I have such a big mouth. Why, of all things, must I be a blabber mouth?

She dropped her knife in shock, "What?"

"I can prove it."

"How?"

"Think about," I told her. "She's been disappearing lately because she's been with me. I gave her that gray hoodie you might've seen her wearing. She probably seemed like she was hiding something too."

Thalia only stared at me in shock. Cops pulled up next to us and the rest of her gang fled. She still knelt there though, trying to figure out if I was lying.

"Break it up you two," one of the officers ordered and pulled us in separate directions.

One of them shined a flashlight in my face, "Aren't you the kid who killed the Castellan boy?"

My heart raced. It was a question, but they definitely knew it was me. I had been hiding from them all night and now I get busted so easily. By this point I wanted to confess though. Being a guilty fugitive wasn't worth it to me.

"Yeah, I am," I told them.

"Alright," the second officer said, "You're coming with us then."

They attached handcuffs to my wrists and began walking me toward the police car. This wasn't exactly what I had wanted to do with my life, but I guess that's justice. And karma.

"Hold on officers," Thalia told them and we stopped in our tracks. "He did kill Luke Castellan, but it was out of self-defense. Luke tried to hurt him, but he stabbed him to save his own life. You can charge him for disrupting the peace or assault because of the fight, but you would be wrongly charging him with murder."

She sounded so official; the cops bought every word she said.

"How do we know you aren't just defending him?"

Without any fear of them she replied, "I was Luke's girlfriend. I was in the same gang as him. You can check my tattoo with his dead body's. If anything, I should want nothing more than to see him behind bars."

The officer undid the handcuffs, "Okay then you're free to go for now. You might have to go to court though. And charges will probably come about."

They drove away, and I looked at Thalia, "You bailed me out. Why?"

She still showed no emotion, "If you are what you say you are to Annabeth then she'll want to see you. Besides, I'd want to get my own revenge on you instead of the cops dealing it for me."

I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved or threatened, but I followed her into the hospital.

**I know I made the cops a little lenient, but I figured they already have plenty to worry about in that town. Anyway, Annabeth's okay and Percy's not jailed. For those of you who automatically think it'll be a happy ending, you never know. I could always turn things around.**

**HOWEVER, PLEASE ADD IN YOUR REVIEWS IF YOU WOULD RATHER A HAPPY ENDING (WHICH IS NICE BUT KIND OF BORING) OR A SAD ENDING (WHICH WOULD BE EXCITING BUT PROBABLY UPSETTING). IN THE END I DECIDE, BUT YOUR OPINIONS MIGHT SWAY MY DESCISION BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I CAN GO A FEW DIFFERENT WAYS WITH THIS STORY. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****xXSmiley16Xx****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****allieapollo****, ****Reads for Fun****, ****437****, ****the ghost king****, ****tay-tay22****, ****seaweed brain girl****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****book-freak20****, ****waterpoloplayer****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****storyteller1425****, ****Lord Zill****, ****koil163****, ****Philo0sophia****, ****Ayemjayis****, ****wisegirl1333****, ****atlchick313****, ****Yomile Clare****, ****42 IS the answer****, ****annabethchase999****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****Angel of Darkness1337**

**I STILL do not own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

When I woke up in the hospital, I found Thalia lounging in a chair next to my bed. Her eyes were red from crying and she was staring up at the ceiling, completely lost in thought. In one quick mental rush, all the memories of the past hours came back to me. It had been one hell of a long night.

I stirred slightly and Thalia's head snapped in my direction, "Thank god you're okay. I couldn't lose both of you."

"Luke's really dead, isn't he?" I asked quietly.

She nodded even though I could tell she really wished it wasn't true.

I glanced at my right arm in a sling and asked, "How bad off am I?"

"Not that bad. You had lost a bit of blood, but apparently Connor and Travis have the same blood type as you."

Realizing they must've donated their blood to me, I groaned, "It's scary to think I have some of their blood in me."

She laughed, "True. You passed out from blood loss, but it wasn't too bad. You weren't even unconscious very long. You were only out for about an hour. Some of the bone if your shoulder got chipped by the knife though, so your arm will be in a sling for a while."

"You don't have to stay and watch me," I told her, "You can go back if you want."

She sighed, "The last thing I want to do right now is go to the apartment and look at all of Luke's stuff." Even though she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it, I could tell she was beyond upset over Luke's death. "I'm going to step outside and get some air with a couple others from the gang. They wanted to see you, but they would only allow one person at a time."

I nodded and she left. I figured I could just doze back to sleep, but before I could there was a knock on the door. "Come in," I called even though I had no idea who it was.

Of course Rachel Elizabeth Dare stepped through the doorway. It took all of my will power not to just get up and leave. Why would she even come? I don't know. How did she even know I was here? I have no freaking clue.

"Hi," she greeted awkwardly and closed the door behind her, "I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now." Correct. "If it helps, Percy sent me." Incorrect.

"No offense," I told her (even though I barely meant it), "But Percy sending you only wants to make me kick your ass out of here more." The second she said Percy sent her, I was sure she knew about us. I wasn't mad at her for that, I was mad at Percy.

Nodding in response, she sat in the chair Thalia had used a minute ago, "He sent me to see if you were okay. I chose to come in here myself though."

"Aren't you a big girl now?" I remarked sarcastically. That may have been harsh, but she wasn't really on my list of top ten favorite people.

"I came here to apologize," she deadpanned.

My jaw must've dropped in shock. Her boyfriend cheated on her with me, then left her for me, but here she was saying that _she_ was sorry. If anything, I probably should've been apologizing to her. I wanted to hear what she had to say.

"What?" I asked in shock.

"I was kind of awful to you," she explained. "Sadly enough, it was because of Percy. I was always defensive of him when it came to other girls. My parents keep me on a tight, boring leash. Percy was really one of the few things I actually cared about in my life because of that. Sure I was rich, but that often made people avoid me. And it was hard to trust the ones who did it. So, is my apology accepted?"

"Yeah," I told her, "And I'm sorry too. I wasn't exactly nice back."

It was weird thinking I could actually be friends with her now. I guess she was cool when we weren't fighting. It would still be sufficiently awkward for a while though.

A couple seconds later she left. Finally, I would get to sleep. Just as I got comfy and shut my eyes, the door was thrown open. What the f***? Thalia came back in with…Percy?

He ran to my side and hugged me like he never wanted to let go. I pulled away and kissed him passionately. It was the happiest moment in my entire life. I could practically hear the angels singing. And we lived happily ever after. The End.

…

…

…

…

…

No, I'm totally kidding. Thalia did come back in with Percy though. He stood there eyeing me uncomfortably. It seemed like he was trying to figure out what to say to me.

Thalia spoke up and pointed at Percy, "Are you dating this?" I was kind of insulted that she referred to Percy as 'this', but I decided not to point that out.

"Yes I am," I told her and her eyes widened. "Could you please leave though?"

She was so shocked she left without an argument.

Once she left, Percy mumbled a quiet, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I challenged, "Killing Luke? Or telling Rachel and Thalia about us?" Not to mention his mom, but I was okay with that one.

He tensed slightly in fear when he realized I knew he told, "In my defense, Luke and Thalia were both trying to kill me. So I think you can really only get mad at me for Rachel."

My jaw dropped. He's kills my brother and expects me to forgive him instantly. I get that it wasn't entirely his fault, but it's not something a person gets over so fast. Was he expecting me to immediately be like 'I forgive you, let's make out'?

"When was Thalia even trying to kill you?"

"Like two minutes ago outside," he put his hands in the air in exasperation, "I don't see why you're so mad. It's not like I can take it back."

Taking a deep breath, I reigned in my anger, "Can you please just go? That way we can discuss this later."

"Fine," he growled and stormed out the door.

With groan, I slumped down in my bed. Why must love be difficult? Even though I tried, I didn't get a single second of sleep before they released me later that day.

**Percy and Annabeth were both kind of being assholes, but they've both pretty much reached their breaking points.**

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE! PLEASE READ!**

**Okay, once again I have figured out what kind of ending I'm going to go with, but how do you guys feel about a sequel? I'm going to have an epilogue which could wrap everything up or it could lead into a sequel. Fair warning about a sequel though: I can't guarantee it will be as god or better than this story. Also, I would probably update a lot slower because I have school starting really soon. So, please give me your feedback.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****book-freak20****, ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****atlchick313****, ****wisegirl1333****, ****Yomile Clare****, ****McIrishGirl****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****annabethchase999****, ****Lord Zill****, ****Blackhawk1997****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****AnnabethChaseRox13****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****MuffinGirlChase****, ****amy-x-ian-forever****, ****storyteller1425**

**I still do not own PJO.**

**Percy POV**

To top off my totally suckish night, Annabeth and I were fighting. I'll admit I was being a jerk, but I was stressed enough. And every time she pointed out I killed Luke, I kept remembering that I was a murderer. It was driving me crazy, yet it's not like I could bring him back. That night though, I decided it just wasn't worth fighting with her. I told Rachel and Thalia about us, but they were bound to find out eventually. If _Clarisse _could figure it out, they definitely would've. Neither of us needed this stupid arguing though. A couple days later, I tried to find a solution.

I couldn't figure out a way to fix this though. Beg for forgiveness? Too weak. Cheesy romantic dinner? She'd think I was kidding. Apology letter? She'd get mad because I didn't say it in person. Just talking it out? That would turn into arguing within two minutes.

I groaned and slammed my head on my desk, "Why can't I think of anything?"

"Maybe because your head's too empty," Nico taunted from my doorway. No, I hadn't told him about me and Annabeth too. I didn't even know why he just showed up.

"Very funny," I told him, "Why are you here?"

He leaned against the doorframe, "I just came to remind you that that Castellan guy's funeral is today. So you might want to steer clear of the-"

"The funeral?" my head shot up off of my desk as I thought of an idea. I ran over and picked Nico up in a hug, "That's it, Nico! I owe you big time."

"Oh, that's great," he growled sarcastically. "Now would you put me down?"

I released him to the floor and he left before I could go crazy and hug him again. Running to my closet I found an old black suit that I hastily threw on.

"Bye mom," I yelled to her in the kitchen as I ran through the door, still tying my tie.

She gave me a puzzled look, "Um…bye?"

Hopping in my Prius, I drove to where the funeral was supposed to be happening. If I was right, I was running really late. Once I got there, I almost fell out of my car from trying to get out too fast. I reached crowd of people, most of which were from Aegis. They were gathered around his coffin, sharing funny stories about him. Instantly I spotted Annabeth who was staring at the coffin with sad, devoid eyes. I knew I was taking a risk coming here.

"Does anyone else have anything they'd like to say?" Will Solace asked as he finished up his little speech.

Stepping out of the crowd I announced, "I'd like to say something."

Recognizing my voice, Annabeth's eyes snapped up to meet mine. I probably should've planned on what I was going to say ahead of time. My mind whirled as I tried to think of something.

I took a deep breath, "My name's Percy Jackson and I wasn't really a friend of Luke's, but I heard plenty about him. Most of you here are probably plotting to kill me for what I did and the rest of you are probably thinking 'Who is this scum bag?' I'll admit, I am the reason he's dead. He got killed by me when he tried to protect someone he cared about. That isn't the typical memory that somebody would bring up at a funeral, but it says a lot about who he was. He cared about others and would do anything for them. I should've been his friend instead of his enemy." I looked Annabeth dead in the eye, "And I'm so sorry I took someone like that away from you."

Was that a bit cheesy? Yes. But what was I supposed to do? Put on a comedy act at a funeral full of people who hate me? As everyone cleared out I ran to Annabeth. She actually seemed happy to see me, but Thalia glared at me as she walked past.

"Hey," I said to Annabeth and pulled her into a hug. Even though I thought she'd tell me to get lost, she responded by wrapping her arms around my waist. "I know you're probably still mad, but I felt I needed to come. At the hospital I was just upset. I just got angry because you kept reminding me I-"

She quickly pecked my lips and pulled away from my embrace, "I forgive you. But I have to tell you-"

My phone buzzed to life in my jacket and I pulled it out of my front pocket. I nearly dropped my phone in shock/joy when I read the text message that had came. "Even more good news," I told her as I put my phone back, "You've forgiven me and Clarisse quit the gang. I just got an angry text from her saying so. She'll probably end up trying to kill me in a different gang, but at least she's no longer my issue. And I'm so glad you've forgiven me. I thought-"

"Percy," she cut me off, "I'm moving."

I'm surprised I didn't fall back in shock, "What?"

**This chapter was a pretty short but that's because I wanted to end it with this cliffy.**

**YET AGAIN A VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE! I APOLOGIZE GREATLY BUT I WILL NOT BE WRITING A SEQUEL! I just can't think of one that would do this story justice. Once again, I'm sorry to those who really wanted one. I think a sequel would just destroy this story though. I will be posting other stories that I hope you all like just as much. As a matter of fact, I will be posting an author's note at the end of this story with my ideas for my next story. When I post it, I hope you will all pick which one you would like to have me write (because I like all of the ideas). **


	21. Epilogue

**I AM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO POST THIS CHAPTER, ESPECIALLY WITH A CLIFFY. I have barely even been in my house the past couple of days though, so I hope you all LOVE the last chapter (technically the epilogue) of this story.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter: ****BabyYou'reAllThatIWant****, ****Angel of Darkness1337****, ****Lord Zill****, ****MuffinGirlChase****, ****Blackhawk1997****, ****Alexandra Nightshade****, ****lovemeforever04****, ****Yomile Clare****, ****SoccerGirl8****, ****The Mysterious Dreamer****, ****tay-tay22****, ****HiThereSmiley****, ****atlchick313****, ****Firestar26****, ****I'mAnIdiotButWhoCares****, ****storyteller1425****, ****sasha1207****, ****book-freak20****, ****C a i s h a L e a****, ****annabethchase999****, ****daughterofhadesandaphrodite**

**I do not own PJO.**

**Annabeth POV**

"Percy," I called, "Can you hand me that bag?"

We had been on decent terms since the funeral, but we both settled with the fact I was moving. I had to go back to my family and get a better education for college and I would kind of need my parents to help pay for it. Percy needed to stay with his mom and get into college as well. And while I had a chance to get out of the gang, he was stuck in Riptide. However, I had gotten him to help me pack. Especially since my arm was still in a sling so I could only do things one-handed. We were in my room, shoving stuff in random bags and boxes.

"Why?" he mocked, "I told you that you aren't moving."

Okay, we settled things for the most part. But as it came closer to me leaving, he kept trying to pretend I was making this some sort of act.

"Really?" I challenged, "How could you even stop me?"

"Well…" he stepped forward and pressed his lips against mine. I put my good arm around his neck and kissed back. In the mean time, he reached behind me and grabbed something off my bed. When I pulled away he ran out the door, holding my car keys in the air. "You can't leave without your car!"

Not having the energy to chase after him, I grabbed the nearest pillow off my bed and stepped into the living room where he was still running for the door. Just before he could grab the doorknob, I chucked the pillow at him single-handedly. It thumped against the back of his head and plowed his face into the still closed door. He got up clutching his nose that had just started clearing up from swelling. I felt bad until he reluctantly came back and I saw that he was fine.

"You're violent," he pointed out as we walked back into my room.

"Tell me something I don't know," I remarked and began unloading my dresser into a cardboard box.

Coming up behind me, he wrapped his arms around my waist, "Why do you have to go?"

I sighed, "Didn't we already have this discussion? Besides, it would be too late to stay now."

"So," he said awkwardly, "Does this mean…we're over? That these past few months were nothing?"

"I would hate for us to break up like this. Do we want to try a long-distance relationship?" I suggested.

He nodded, "It would be better than not having you at all. If you get mad at me or forget about me though what if you go off with some other guy? I wouldn't have a way of knowing."

"Believe me," I told him, "I wouldn't cheat on you. Plus, my parents frown upon cheating, so I'd be dead if even they knew. And I have Thalia watching you so I don't have to worry."

Since I was moving, Thalia decided it would be easier just to merge Riptide and Aegis. It was exceedingly awkward at first, but they got used to each other. Also, Nico seemed to do everything in his power to make sure Thalia was cool with everything. Can anyone say crush? She's still not over Luke though, but she just needs time.

Anyway, he smiled and continued packing, "This still kind of sucks though."

"Why did you agree to help me pack if you're just going whine the whole time?"

He shrugged, "Because I'm an awesome boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes even though he spoke the truth.

The next day I left and was swarmed with goodbyes. I had to agree with Thalia that if I didn't tell her anything important about my life with my family, she could come hunt me down. The Stoll brothers gave me a whoopee-cushion to use on my two little brothers at home as a going-away gift. Once again, it's frightening to think I have some of their blood in me. Even Rachel gave me a hug as a farewell.

Percy couldn't even find anything to say. For a good five minutes we simply stood outside of my apartment hugging. Just before I left, he gave me a quick kiss goodbye and gave me a plate of blue cookies his mom had made. She was almost as upset as him that I was leaving.

I didn't lose touch with Percy though. Almost every day we'd call or text each other. On my first day of school, he sent me a picture of himself that had a caption 'I doubt any of the guys in your class will look as good as this'. He was right. Not only that, but someone had complemented me for his grey hoodie I hadn't even realized I had been wearing. Some nights when we would call each other really late, he would fall asleep and I could hear his snoring through the phone. Long-distance relationships usually don't work very well, but we made it work.

Occasionally, we'd send each other little gifts. His were usually an old article of his clothing that I could wear and remember him by. He even sent me sneakers once. Kind of weird, but definitely something he would do. I would send him pictures of me and my new school friends. He claimed he loved to see what kind of people I was around. I knew he just wanted to see what kind of guys I was around.

One day, I really took notice of two pictures on my dresser. One was a picture of Thalia, Luke, and I. We were sitting on the couch in my old apartment with our feet propped up on the coffee table in front of us. We all had our arms around each other and were smiling at the camera we had propped up on the TV. Next to that picture was one of me and Percy. We were sitting with my head on his chest at our spot in the park. It was ironic to see the two pictures next to each other.

Smiling, I picked up the pictures and put them in a cardboard box that fit them perfectly. I scribbled Percy address on the top of it and threw in a note. It read 'Some things aren't supposed to work out. We must be a lot luckier than I thought.'

**So it's a happy ending, but not a super cheesy one.**

**I HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK OF ALL OF YOU. Tomorrow, I will be posting an author's note. It will have a few different summaries for stories I'm thinking about writing. If you could all read it and pick the one that you think sounds best, that would be great. I hope you all loved this story and you pick another one tomorrow for me to write.**

**Thanks again, **

**Gingerkid73. **


	22. Author's Note

First I would like to thank all of you for reading and reviewing (if you did) this story. I personally didn't think I would even reach one hundred reviews for my first fic. Not to mention how many alert and favorite lists this was put on. However, this story did have to come to an end. Now I would like you all to pick which of these stories you would like to see me post next.

1) Bucket List:

Summary- Percy and Annabeth lost touch years ago, and she finds him years later diagnosed with leukemia. Now that he knows his days are numbered, he has Annabeth help him through every step of the way.

This story will probably have pretty much no action, but tons of Percabeth. It may also be a bit sad, yet some people like reading stuff like that. Anyway, there will also be a bit of music.

2) Troubled Waters:

This story will involve a next generation of demigods. It will center Percy and Annabeth's daughter, and Thalia and Nico's son. Plus, some other character's children may appear. It will also be an adventure/romance fic with lots of action.

Summary- At three months old, Jordan Jackson was stolen from her mother's arms by a rebel group of demigods. Fourteen years later, Drew di Angelo is sent to rescue her, but things aren't as they seem.

3) Friends Before Love:

Summary- Annabeth has had a crush on her friend Percy since she was seven years old. But by the time she gets enough courage to ask him out, he's dating her best friend.

This story has Percabeth, Perlia, and Thalico all in one. Instead of most stories where Rachel is dating Percy, this has Thalia dating him. I figured it would be a better relationship challenge. Plus, Nico will have a crush on Thalia and want to break them up as well. There will probably be very little action in this story and they aren't demigods.

I hope at least one of these seemed interesting to you, so please tell me which one. Since some of you put me on your favorite and alert lists even though I've only written one story, I hope you will enjoy any of these.

Once again, THANKS TO ALL WHO READ, REVIEWED, AND PUT THIS ON THEIR FAVORITE OR ALERT LISTS!


	23. IMPORTANT

I know you are all probably sick of author's notes, but I figured you'd all like to know I decided on writing Friends Before Love. For those of you who really wanted one of the other stories, I apologize.

Also, I made a mistake in the summary I posted last chapter. I meant to say that Annabeth has had a crush on Percy since she was twelve (I was thinking about how long she'd known Thalia for, like in the books), because I'm probably going to make them about seventeen in the story. So, a five-year crush is unlikely, none the less a ten-year one.

Keep in mind, I'm going to be updating much slower. Since it's the start of a new story, I'll probably have the first chapter posted on the last couple days this month. After that, the updates will probably be weekly vs. my usual daily. Don't blame me though, blame my school district.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, especially with the last author's note. It helped me pick and even inspired some ideas for the story.

So this is it for Waves of Wisdom.

I hope to see you next story,

Gingerkid73


End file.
